Aphotic Triumvirate
by Lady Hanaka
Summary: I have no interest in you right now.' What if those words are forgotten and the Akatsuki start embarking on another goal? A goal that involves not only one member of Team 7...but all three.  SakuSasu  ON HIATUS
1. Prologue: Altercation

**Prologue: Altercation**

**Lady Hanaka**

**D. A. Nico**

"He's not coming back!" Sakura screamed.

Naruto and Sakura had constantly shared their opinions over Sasuke's future with each other, and it often ended with Sakura giving in and letting Naruto believe in his dream. Now though, Naruto had broken down every frail nerve in Sakura's already tense body and she'd finally yelled back, she'd finally given into her urge and decided it was time for Naruto to get off his bully pulpit and realize the truth.

Their light conversation had turned into a heated altercation about five minutes ago when Sakura finally screamed at him; from there it had just escalated. Now, five minutes into the donnybrook, things weren't looking much better; voices were rising and Sakura was ready to punch Naruto through a wall and do some damage.

"Sakura, he's still our teammate! He'll come back! And if he doesn't I'll _bring_ him back." Naruto declared for the umpteenth time.

"You're always trying to _bring _him back Naruto! Well this time I'm not going to waste time over that bastard!"

"Sakura we _have _to bring him back he's out teammate!" Naruto halfway pleaded.

"Not all teammates can be saved…" Sakura mumbled harshly under her breath as a vision of blonde hair erupted in her mind. She ignored the pang of guilt that made her heart ache, eyes hardening a bit in anger.

"Sakura..." Naruto immediately went to step forward to try and comfort her.

Sakura steeled her face as she shot him an icy glare, "No Naruto! I'm sick of your false hopes. I'm sick of your constant adventures to search for Sasuke in vain, all of which have come up empty handed by the way! I'm sick of seeing you fail and seeing you hurt yourself!"

Naruto remained silent as he stared at Sakura in disbelief.

"Just give up on it. Sasuke's moved on and so should we," Sakura spat out as she stared out the window of her apartment towards the Hokage tower and beyond that…to the forest where they all once practiced together; when they were young and when she was foolish.

"But Sakura—"

"You want to be Hokage right?" Sakura snapped at him. "Well, Sasuke was right about one thing: You'll never become strong enough to be Hokage if you keep running after him."

"And I told Sasuke that I can't be a good Hokage if I can't save my best friend!" Naruto shot back.

"You have to choose one or the other, Naruto." Sakura whispered harshly. "Your _best friend _or your dream of becoming Hokage." The way she said 'best friend' made it sound like a curse.

"I shouldn't _have_ to choose!" Naruto wailed.

"Life isn't fair." Sakura said frigidly

Then they stood there glaring towards each other. Naruto hunched over as if he were going to leap onto something and Sakura standing straight and proud with her arms crossed protectively in front of her. Protection against what she didn't know, but it was a small comfort. His cerulean eyes met her jade and it was easy to see that no one had won this fight.

Naruto was too stubborn and hopeful to realize his dreams were halfway impossible. His idealistic imaginings of his utopian team were all hopes and assumptions that only Naruto believed. All of this was driving Sakura up the wall. She couldn't stand how naïve he was being. He was twenty for heaven's sake!

"Why can't you just accept the fact that the real team seven will never be what it was?" she asked calmly though her voice quivered with the need to rise again.

"It will be, I promised!" Naruto informed clenching his fist.

"Damn it Naruto! Even if he does come back, which he won't; he will not be the same. Ever!" Sakura said trying once more to berate it into his thick skull that not all things had a happy ending.

Happy endings were for bedtime stories. There was no fairy godmother to wave her magic wand and make everything perfect again. This was life. And she knew it was hitting Naruto hard. Why couldn't he just accept these things?

_Because it's Naruto and he's a stubborn ass when it comes to his teammates. _She thought to herself.

"He still cares about us Sakura. We'll be team seven again." He gave a half-grin, which faded a bit at her stare. "And then me and you and teme and Kakashi-sensei can all go out for ramen at Ichiraku's and—"

"Damn it Naruto!" Sakura yelled. "I don't want you to waste your life searching for that idiot. I don't want him to come back. I don't want to be the same team seven. And I don't want any fucking ramen!"

Each word seemed to hit Naruto like a physical blow. His body seemed to cave in on itself as his eyes dulled a bit. The tears stopped, and he just stared at her, as if he couldn't understand how the monster in front of him could be the same Sakura Haruno he'd known for so long.

"Just you wait." He said fervently, clenching his own fist tightly. "I'll show you that you're wrong about him Sakura. He'll come back with us."

"I don't want to hear it anymore!" Sakura ground out. "Why can't you just marry Hinata and forget about all this?"

"Because _you_ don't have anyone!" Naruto yelled back.

There was silence for a moment as Sakura stared at him, hurt flitting through jade absinthian depths.

"I don't need anyone," Sakura finally whispered between gritted teeth. She was holding back her rage and quite possibly her tears. She shot him a withered look before turning and leaving her own house. Her footsteps balanced evenly with her heart as she walked through and without a second look she slammed the door behind her. And it felt like that divider was something more than a physical barrier.

* * *

**(A\N: This is the story I'm co-writing with the wonderful D.A. Nico. Hehehe, so…how was that for an interesting prologue? Hooked yet? Don't know when the next chapter will be, but I hope you like it so far.**

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka)**


	2. Chapter 1: Gathering the Plan

**Chapter 1**

**Gathering the Plan**

_Lady Hanaka_

_D. A. Nico_

"Hn."

Sasuke surveyed the area below him with an air of boredom. This was pointless. Karin had lost Itachi's chakra signature once again and they were now wandering blindly. His charcoal colored eyes narrowed in annoyance. He was tired of waiting and hoping that Karin would finally catch something.

He was finally powerful enough to fight him… he'd proven that by killing the blonde haired Akatsuki member, right? He'd trained and retrained. He'd strengthened his mind and body. He'd prepared himself in every aspect for the fight with Itachi; he was ready to finally kill his brother and take his revenge.

"It is good to see you again…little brother."

Sasuke's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before they blazed crimson and he wheeled around. He took in the form standing in front of him and gritted his teeth. His brooding had taken over his attention and he'd let Itachi sneak up on him again. He couldn't allow distraction, it was a weakness.

"_Itachi_…"

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! I've found—" Karin stopped yelling as she slid to a stop by the two figures, nearly slipping on the wet ground. Suigetsu and Juugo ran up besides her, stopping in their tracks as well at the sight of the older Uchiha.

Suigetsu gave a feral grin. "Finally. Where's your partner Kisame Hoshigaki, eh Uchiha?"

Itachi didn't answer. He merely gave Suigetsu a look that stated he didn't believe Suigetsu was worth talking to.

"Itachi-san!" A cloaked figure jumped down from a tree limb and landed between Itachi and the rest of team hebi. "Tobi came just like Deidara-senpai asked him to!"

"Hn."

"This time…I'll kill you…" Sasuke growled out, unsheathing his sword.

Itachi's eyes glittered dangerously. "I would kill you right now if I could…but you have something I want, little brother."

Sasuke didn't even bother to ask; immediately he shoved off from the ground but found the muddy terrain acting like a suction cup to his feet and his immediate launch was stuttered in an attempt to gather his balance.

He quickly overcame that small misfortune before flying forward, sword ready; gleaming with an undercurrent of electricity; power radiating from the metal. With in feet of his older brother Sasuke released his chakra and watched in satisfaction as his entire weapon became encased with a lightening show of Chidori, the sound of birds suddenly echoing through the area as he sprinted towards his kin.

He could see an open spot, a moment of weakness in his brother as Itachi's eyes turned to look at something to his right. His strike was imminent, a victory smirk already gracing his handsome features.

_Finally…our clan will be avenged…who's the weak one now?_

And then suddenly he was smashed by a force that was so powerful he was sure Sakura had come out no where to beat him to a pulp. He instinctively swung the sword around to his attacker before he hit the ground rolling from the strength of the blow.

Sasuke immediately glanced up, ready for the second on-coming attacker but watched in horror as Itachi's partner suddenly went soaring, flying back at breakneck speed due to the electricity from his attack—right into Suigetsu and Karin who were standing with the same surprised expression, complete with open-mouths and vacant expressions.

In Tobi's enthusiasm to get Itachi's attention he'd completely ignored the fact that Sasuke was wielding a deadly force and had jumped in to him to get in front of Itachi. It explained _exactly_ why Itachi had left the open spot and had flicked his eyes away…he'd seen Tobi heading at a surprisingly powerful and fast pace to the same place and he'd calculated their collision course. This was an absolute mockery.

He heard Karin give a shriek and Suigetsu grunt as Tobi landed on them. Then Karin was cursing as she tried to push the other Akatsuki member off of her.

Sasuke paid it little attention as he looked back to Itachi, who seemed to think it was all very amusing. Sasuke shot forward once more, eyes trained for any movement, any sign of weakness or distraction.

There was none.

A foot away from his brother he realized his mistake.

He let out a choked gasp as the air in his lungs was pushed out by the connection of Itachi's fist to his stomach. His sword clattered to the ground from lax fingers, and Sasuke pushed away from his older brother, flipping backwards and landing on the balls of his feet.

Itachi picked up Sasuke's sword, looking over the metal with disdain. "Is this the best Orochimaru had to offer you?"

Sasuke merely let out another angered howl as he shot off the ground once more.

"I hope your weakness in battle doesn't affect your Sharingan abilities." Itachi commented coolly, making Sasuke falter a bit. What did he mean by that?

"Come on Sasuke-kun! You can beat him!" Karin cheered.

Sasuke could almost picture Sakura standing in the same place as Karin, cheering him on. Hurrying him to exact his revenge and come back to Konoha. And where Suigetsu stood, grumbling something intelligible would be Naruto grinning like an idiot. The only thing out of place was the orange-masked Akatsuki member who was waving his hands around cheering for Itachi's victory and screaming that he was a good boy.

Sasuke turned to try and ignore the shenanigans of the group of four behind him and raced forward, then to the side. Itachi never moved he merely glanced at his brother with evident boredom.

A sudden booming crash erupted and caused both Sasuke and Itachi to glance over towards what had once been level ground with people standing and supporting. All that remained was a large crevice.

Not but two seconds later Tobi came sprinting across the opening and into view before disappearing once more into the trees, his Akatsuki cloak flapping behind him and catching the wind.

"Your partner's running away," Sasuke sneered in a mocking manner.

However, not two seconds later an evolved Juugo charged past. His voice carried from the distance as threats of death and how it had been such a long time since he'd felt blood.

The comical scene was followed by Suigetsu who dashed after them hefting the sword over his shoulder with two hands and complaining that he was too tired to do this and wanted a break, though he never gave up pursuit.

The last to go after them was Karin, who was instinctively moving forward to apprehend and hold onto Juugo until Sasuke was supposed to do his job. She looked back, her red hair a complete mess flailing behind her, "Hurry Sasuke-kun!" She screeched like a banshee before shoving her glasses further up on her face and following suit after the three males.

A smug chuckle came from his brother and Sasuke immediately turned to go onto the defense; except when he turned he was met with a straight on look into the whirling Mangekyou Sharingan. Not prepared for the genjutsu attack Sasuke went to lunge forward to break the concentration but found himself being enveloped into darkness.

His last fleeting thought was that once again he'd lost to his brother.

* * *

Naruto slurped down another mouthful of ramen. Only one bowl sat in front of him where usually there would be three empty ones by this time. He wasn't attacking the bowl with as much passion as he should have been. In fact, he merely propped his cheek in his hand and stirred the noodles around with his chopsticks. 

"Hey kid, you ok?"

Naruto gave a small sigh and offered a smile to the Ichiraku owner, nodding. "I'm fine."

"I think he's lonely." Came the Ichiraku owner's daughter as she looked at Naruto worriedly.

"Why would he be lonely?" The owner raised an eyebrow.

"Well, the gondaime's apprentice left three months ago." The girl whispered to him, trying to keep Naruto from hearing. She seemed to have forgotten that he was a shinobi. He heard every word clearly and merely pretended that he couldn't as she continued.

"They were really good friends, you know. And he's already lost one teammate."

"Who?"

"That Uchiha child."

"The one who betrayed the village?"

"Mmhm."

Naruto decided he'd had enough ramen for the day. He pushed his half eaten bowl towards the owner, placing his money on the table before he stood up and began walking away. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, shoulders hunched.

He hated the sympathetic stares he always got now that Sakura had left. Three months and everyone was acting as if she were dead. _She's coming back!_ He thought fervently. _I'll bring Sasuke back and then she'll _have_ to come._

And it wasn't as if she'd betrayed the village. She'd asked for a state of leave from the Hokage just like Tsunade had done so many years before. They really were master and apprentice. Sakura had even taken over Tsunade's habit of gambling—although she wasn't horrible at it like her shishou and she wasn't nearly as obsessed.

_Thank god she doesn't use a henge to make her breasts humongous, _Naruto thought with a ghost of his old smile. As an afterthought he added, _not like she would need it. Her breasts are pretty big on their own._

He wished Sakura were there to send him through a few walls for thinking something so perverted. But she wasn't, and so he just continued walking down the road. He didn't even have Kakashi to talk to. He had been away for a long time on an s-rank mission with an ANBU team.

Naruto was about to go looking for Lee to see if he wanted to train when a large explosion shattered the oppressive, peaceful silence. The heat waves rolled off of Naruto as he went running towards the direction of the explosion, his senses on full alert. Several other shinobi were heading that way as well, he noticed, as he came upon the crater.

"What's wrong little Jinchuuriki, yeah?"

Naruto's head snapped up as he shaded his eyes from the afternoon's glare. His eyes widened and then narrowed as he recognized the person that stood outlined against the sun's rays.

…_how?_ Naruto thought furiously, before he began rapid hands signs and a shadow clone appeared—just as Deidara threw another exploding bird. Naruto leapt into the air and onto the roof of one of Konoha's buildings. His clone leapt up to collide with the clay bird, making it detonate in the air.

"Come on little Jinchuuriki! Let's play, yeah."

Naruto let out an animalistic growl as he followed the large shadow Deidara's flying bird created.

Deidara flew with unrestrained speed towards the training grounds and the forest beyond. Along the way Naruto had to dodge at least twenty on coming hummingbirds at different intervals. Every time he looked back ready to fight against the clay birds they would keep flying and attack any other shinobi that was closest. Naruto didn't realize that it was possible that Deidara was picking off the help as he went.

Naruto could feel the kyuubi come alive inside of him; the familiar red chakra swarming around his body. Fangs, whiskers and red eyes all became prominent features on his face, and claws could be felt pricking into his palms while he clenched his fists.

Leaping through the forest along the branches he kept his eyes raised towards where Deidara flew quickly through the sky. Naruto couldn't help the growl that emitted from his throat; he didn't have Kakashi's Sharingan here this time to help.

Naruto was too preoccupied with staring up at Deidara that he completely missed the trap. He felt the small resistance against his ankle and knew he'd triggered it the moment he heard a snap from behind. Jumping a side he glanced backwards and blinked when nothing immediately came at him.

Sniffing the air, he was caught off guard when all around him little clay spiders fell from the trees, and exploded. The blast knocked Naruto off the tree limb and smashed him into the ground. Sneezing out the dust, ash and clay from the explosion Naruto couldn't help groaning in pain as he flipped over and got up onto his hands and knees, coughing to gather air into his lungs.

"Well, well, well; if it isn't the kyuubi."

Naruto glanced up, finding his vision full of dull colors along with the perceptibly obvious crimson stain. He scrambled backwards as the ground in front of him erupted into a small crater. He felt a small void fill him as the chakra seemed to be ripped from his body forcefully.

He didn't even have to look to know that his opponent was Kisame Hoshigake and the large white covered sword was Samehada. He bared his fangs in a growl as he looked at the blue-skinned man in front of him, who was showing off his own pointed teeth in a feral grin.

A shadow appeared over them both and Naruto knew it was Deidara. "Well, he's here, yeah. Don't worry about the other shinobi. They won't be coming anytime soon."

Naruto's eyes widened for a second, before they narrowed in rage. A trap? Yes, a trap. They'd tried to destroy the village to get him to come out and leave it. And what a fool he'd been.

_**You really were the stupidest Genin of your grade**__. Kyuubi mocked inwardly. __**Now let's show this blue bastard what happens when he messes with a demon.**_

Naruto agreed with another growl as he lunged forward. Kisame took a step to the side, making Naruto stumble before he regained his footing and swiped out with his claws. Kisame merely threw up Samehada, and Naruto howled as the chakra was drained, forcibly retracting the demon claws from his right hand.

_**Tear his face off! **__The Kyuubi hissed. _

Naruto was more than happy to comply as he felt rage bubble inside of him. The Akatsuki would never give up would they? For god's sake they'd killed Gaara!

It was payback time.

Naruto pumped the chakra into his hand, feeling the Rasengan build.

_**Yes, that's it. Revenge, boy. That's what you want, **_**revenge.**

Naruto blinked, flickers of blue entering his red eyes. _Revenge…?_ No. He wasn't Sasuke. He wouldn't give into his hatred and lust for blood like that. He couldn't. He remembered what had happened last time…when he'd hurt Sakura…

Naruto's breathing became less labored and harsh as he ran at them, fully in control this time. He heard the Kyuubi shouting at him to transform again, but he pushed him farther into his mind.

Kisame swung Samehada, but Naruto leapt over it, bring his hand forward. He let out a battle cry as his Rasengan connected with Kisame's chest. He saw Kisame's eyes widen for a second as he grunted—before he disappeared in an explosion of water.

"Kuso…" Naruto cursed as he shook the water from his hair, readying to whirl around as he heard Kisame's dark chuckle from behind him.

And that was all that Naruto remembered as a searing pain ran across his back and he fell to the ground face first. His vision began blurring as blood seeping down his back and onto the ground beneath him.

"I wonder if they got the other two, yeah." He heard Deidara laugh coldly. "Then I can finally get myself healed."

"Don't get too excited." Kisame grunted as darkness began to take over Naruto's vision. "The others are still trying to find that pink-haired girl."

"…Sakura…no…" Naruto managed to gasp out before he fell unconscious.

* * *

The kunoichi in question was walking down a bustling street, lanterns aglow along both sides of the road, connected to shops and vendors. Her pretty jade eyes twinkled simultaneously with them as she clasped and unclasped her hands, glancing around; looking for someone in particular. 

Unsurprised by the arm that gently wrapped around her waist she turned to the side and let a small smile fall past her façade as she stared into the steel grey eyes of her current affection.

Souta was the man that Sakura had always dreamed Sasuke would be. He was gentle, charming, sweet and willing to touch her in public. He made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world to him, that he'd risk everything just to keep her. He made her feel like she was the right choice, not something that just happened to be there.

"You look great," he complimented quietly as he dusted a feather light kiss against her cheek and then urged her forward as they headed into the main portion of town; where the night life was just beginning to wake up.

As they walked beneath the semi-darkness and glow from the lights Sakura couldn't reminisce as she leaned in a little closer to the man. While working in the hospital here she'd met up with Souta, another highly skilled medic. He'd been struggling a bit with a difficult case, tears streaming down his face as he urged the young form in front of him to hold on a little longer. Sakura had never seen another medic with so much emotion on his face as he struggled to keep the little girl alive.

Up until that time Sakura had kept her medic-nin skills under wrap, preferring to work as an average medic rather than the Gondaime's apprentice. That way…no one would be able to know she was there. But she'd seen him crying over the small form of the little girl and had hurried to his side to help.

Between the two of them they'd saved her life. Souta had looked into her eyes and given her a smile full of admiration and awe as he whispered, "…thank you."

Usually those words held a bitter taste for Sakura, but coming from his lips had made her feel…appreciated. He'd then told her that the little girl was his sister. Apparently her team had met up with some missing-nin from another village.

Sakura had just smiled at the man and said she was glad she could help. He'd asked her if she wanted to go out for some coffee after shift, and now here they were, strolling down the street like a couple of newlyweds.

She laced a hand through his as they looked at the little shops that lined the street, vendors shouting as they tried to get the attention of the masses that bustled around them. The spring festival had the town's civilians ready to enjoy their few days of celebration to the fullest.

"Do you want something to eat?" Souta asked, eyeing one of the food stalls.

Sakura laughed. "I'm too busy looking at all these shops to be hungry. But you go ahead." She urged. "I want to check out that stand."

Souta nodded as he gave her another swift kiss on the cheek before he headed towards the shop and Sakura pushed her way through the crowd to the small store that had caught her eye.

It was filled with dolls, some made of cloth, other's porcelain. Sakura murmured in awe at the craftsmanship as she eyed a little geisha doll. _Maybe Souta's little sister would like this one. _She reached forward to touch it, but stopped as something flashed in the corner of the stall.

Her head whipped around as she stared, eyes wide, before they regained their regular size as all that met her eyes was a puppet dangling from the ceiling of the stall. She heard a soft crash and saw the doll topple to the ground, it's heard shattering.

"Oh!" Sakura put a hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed to the vendor, an exotic blue-haired woman. "I'll pay for it. I'm so, so, sorry." Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment as she hurriedly tried to pick up the broken pieces.

"No need." The woman murmured.

Sakura glanced up momentarily surprised by the woman's nonchalant attitude towards the broken doll. She was about to make another comment about how the doll was so pretty and it was such a waste, but noticed the other woman's gaze was transfixed on something else.

Sakura turned to look but saw nothing in particular and then went back to collecting the pieces of the dolls head as she held its little body in her left hand, "I'm so very sorry," she repeated again.

"I'm not," The vender suddenly murmured in a venomous tone as she turned her head to look towards Sakura.

Sakura's eyes narrowed at the sudden change in personality but didn't have enough time to think as she was suddenly grabbed from the front. Expecting to see a human of sorts she was stunned to see the doll had grown in side, its head still shattered and its arm wrapping themselves once, twice, three times around Sakura's.

Gasping she quickly wrenched her arms apart in an attempt to snap the little dolls arms from her body but watched in dismay as the arms simply unraveled from with in the body. Memories of a battle long ago with Sasori, the Akatsuki member from Suna…she couldn't help that small nervous beat that pushed its way into her stomach.

It was like seeing the dead as Sasori came around in front of her kneeling form, his fingers twitching as he controlled the puppet. His forever young face smirking down at Sakura as he twisted his left index finger and watched the doll connect its hands and pull Sakura just a little closer.

"It's been a long time Sakura-_chan­,_" he sneered and Sakura noticed the amusement in his eyes when she started to struggle against the doll.

"Now, now let's not make a scene," the blue haired woman spoke stepping forward. Her voice was husky, seducing, "We wouldn't want you to cause any commotion; think of the children… they could get hurt." She purred and pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Sakura gritted her teeth, still trying to push down her panic. Her eyes skimmed the area for any chance of escape of rescue…but the crowd continued to bustle past her as if not seeing a thing.

"…genjutsu…" She hissed out as she gave one last struggle against the doll before she went lax, nodding at the two Akatsuki. "Very well…let's go."

Sasori's smirk grew as he tugged on the puppet strings, which in turn pulled her towards the two. "I made this puppet just for you." He crooned. "Even your strength can't break it."

Sakura glared at him as they continued leading her towards the line of trees just past the street. Sakura grudgingly let them pull her. "Why are you doing this? Why didn't you just kill me straight off it that's what you wanted. You know I'll never help you get Naruto."

The woman looked back at her as if she were inspecting a speck of dust on her sleeve. She made no move to answer her questions as they entered the shadows of the trees. Sakura waited for a few more moments of silent walking, calculating her chances of escape.

"Really now." Sasori sighed in annoyance. "I had hoped you would put up more of a fight—" he stopped as Sakura let out a small battle cry, breaking the puppet's arms and flipping backwards.

Sasori's eyes flashed in amusement. "I see your strength has grown since our last battle."

Sakura made to take out a kunai, looking at the both of them through hard, jade eyes. "There's no way in hell that I'm coming with you peacefully." _And now that we're away from the civilians I can fight back._

Sasori moved his fingers, and Sakura recognized the way they twitched as she shot to the left, the puppet whipping past her and missing her stomach by mere millimeters. _I can still read his movements. They haven't changed that much. _She decided, dodging another oncoming attack from the doll.

She growled a bit as she slammed her fist into the puppet's stomach and it merely collapsed in on itself and didn't shatter. It got back on its feet easily, the small chakra barrier on its stomach having taken the blow.

"I told you I made this doll specifically for our battle…" Sasori gave a soft chuckle. "Ah Sakura-chan…I can't wait to make you part of my collection."

"Stop flirting with her, Sasori." Came a sultry voice from behind Sakura. Sakura whirled around, getting into a fighting stance once again. Her eye's met the blue-haired woman's—and time froze for a brief moment. Sakura found something almost snake-like glittering in their cerulean depths—which flashed a poisoned yellowish green before they regained their normal color.

Sakura felt something constrict in her stomach as panic filled her. _Dammit, she must use doujutsu!_ She called herself a million kinds of idiot. She should have known better, she was Kakashi's _student_ after all. Dammit!

And then she looked down at her arm, because she suddenly couldn't move it. Her breath hitched at what she saw, as the skin turned a granite color, hardening. _Stone…she's turning me to stone…_She just stared down at the way the rock began consuming her shoulder.

It was vaguely reminiscent of the shinobi she, Naruto, Kakashi, and Lee had fought off in Moon country. The male shinobi had used a gauntlet to turn people to stone. On the gauntlet…and eye had lit up. An eye eerily similar to the blue-haired Akatsuki member's when they'd flashed green.

_I healed everyone then. I can heal myself now._ She thought determinately, her other hand glowing green as she placed it on the rock. She felt the chakra course through it, and the color began turning normal again—but then it was gone, as if the chakra had disappeared, and the rock continued creeping up to her neck.

"H…how…?" Sakura gasped out, feeling her neck begin turning to stone, her lungs feeling heavy, as if she were breathing through a straw.

The woman gave a low laugh. "Stop struggling. You will merely speed up the process the more you move. I am the only one who can reverse the effects."

Sakura tried to calm her erratic heartbeat, as she felt Sasori come up behind her. He almost seemed to pout against her cheek, looking at the blue-haired woman. "Don't ruin her body. I can't make a puppet out of stone."

The woman snorted. "Don't worry. Your _puppet_ will be fine."

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned her eyes to see the figure bursting through the tree line. _Souta_…She opened her mouth to yell at him and tell him to run away, but her throat no longer worked. She wheezed, feeling herself fall unconscious due to lack of air.

"…Sou…" Sakura managed to croak out with the last bit of her strength.

He ran towards the two Akatsuki, a kunai in hand.

_No! No, no, no!_ Sakura screamed silently as Sasori appeared behind him, a puppet dangling on his chakra strings.

Souta stopped in his tracks, a soft gasp bubbling up to his lips along with blood as he stared down at the sword impaling him.

_NOOOOOOO_! Sakura felt a few tears leak from her eyelids, falling down her cool stone cheeks. _Souta, no! _Helpless…she'd been helpless once again, watching the people she loved get hurt because of her weakness.

Sasori caught Souta's dying weight, looking at Sakura with a small smile. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I will make him into a puppet for you…so you won't be lonely."

Sakura just glared at him, wishing she could kill him with her eyes as they slowly drifted shut and she succumbed to darkness.

* * *

**(A\N: Well, here's chapter one! Moowahahaha, we haven't given anything away have we? I hope you enjoyed it. And I know the prologue seemed a bit WTF, but that was the point. Yeah, so we didn't know what 'Blues' powers were, so we decided to get creative with them. :D And yes, Sasuke and Naruto's battles weren't as detailed as Sakura's...but that's cause we love her more. XD**

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka)**


	3. Chapter 2: Kazagaruma

**Chapter 2**

**Kazagaruma**

Sasuke groggily opened his eyes, blinking a few times. Everything was fuzzy…and dark. Fuzzy and dark were not a good combination. His eyesight seemed less sharp and perceptive in general. And he realized with annoyance, that it was because his Sharingan was not activated. His body felt heavy and tired, and he knew he didn't have enough chakra to open them again. And so he used his other senses to try and figure out where he was. His memories of his last few minutes of consciousness were a blur.

He was lying on the ground, he knew that much. The cold stone pressed against his cheek as he tried to shift from his position on his side. Cold steel pressed against his arms and legs and he knew he'd been tied up. His face suddenly twisted into a scowl as the memory of Itachi's tsukuyomi surfaced. He let out an angered growl.

"So, sleeping beauty finally awakens," a sarcastic retort came from somewhere he couldn't see. Well, he was lying on the ground facing a wall, what _was_ there to see? But he recognized the voice immediately, and his instincts kicked in.

"Dobe."

"Teme." Naruto snapped back at him. He had finally managed to push himself into a sitting position in his cell, and was facing the bars. Across the small hallway was Sasuke's cell, where Sasuke was lying with his back to him.

When Naruto had awoken earlier the last thing he'd expected to see was his old teammate—especially given the fact that he'd been captured by the Akatsuki.

"Sakura…"

Sasuke's eyes seemed to suddenly gain the strength they needed to open and he continued to stare at the wall with as much fascination as he would do watching paint dry on a wall.

Then ever so slowly he moved his body; first his arms, then his legs and after he tested his neck, torso and senses. Everything was working fine, it simply felt like he'd been hit with something heavy and he was being weighted down by an invisible object.

Then he painstakingly twisted around, in a slow and not-so-steady manner. It wasn't painful to do so but his inner equilibrium wasn't paying attention to the demands of his body as fast or as accurately as he wanted them to.

Finally with a huff of indignant rage that he could be this weak, he'd managed to bring his best friend's blonde head into eyesight. Naruto had a far away sad look to his cerulean blue eyes. Just like his eyes, Sasuke noticed that Naruto really didn't change that much. His blonde hair was a bit longer, currently dirty and knotted, probably from the tussle before he had been captured. His body in general was bulkier then Sasuke's but Sasuke didn't doubt that they were equal in height.

Sasuke's eyes moved further to take in his surroundings. Just as he had suspected they were in a prison. There were four large holding cells that were divided into pairs and separated by an eight foot walkway. They were miserably stalked to actually try to make their occupants comfortable and the smell of blood that had been half-heartedly cleaned still wafted from the walls. It was an all-around unpleasant place to be…the perfect prison.

Sasuke also figured that if this was an Akatsuki prison then looks were not deceiving. Torture, rape and death took dominance over any other pleasant imaginings for the room; not only that, but the familiar sense of chakra radiated from every corner of the room. It was well stocked to deal with high powered shinobi. He wondered if even Sakura's punches could take out the cell's doors.

Something clicked in the back of his head as he glanced around, no pink-haired woman. He turned his dark eyes back towards Naruto, who still looked as forlorn as he sounded.

"Where is Sakura?" he asked calmly. A second later he was making the attempt to sit up.

Naruto seemed to cave further into himself as he looked towards the door and then over towards his ex-teammate; and then simply rolled his shoulders in a defeated shrug.

"I haven't seen her." His voice was cracked, as if his throat was dry. "She wasn't here when I woke up."

Sasuke nodded. "She wasn't needed then."

"Eh?"

Sasuke turned to look at his once-best friend, once being the key word. He couldn't really find a word to describe Naruto now. He wasn't an enemy, but he couldn't allow himself to call him an ally. He was just Naruto. "We were most likely taken because we were needed."

"Che," Naruto snorted. "We all know why I'm here teme. But no offense, there's no reason the Akatsuki would want _you_." His gaze became thoughtful again as he ignored Sasuke's slight glare. "But I guess…I guess I could understand if they wanted Sakura-chan. Maybe they couldn't get her. Maybe they can't find her."

"Why wouldn't they be able to find her?" Sasuke asked emotionlessly. "She's in Konoha, isn't she?"

"You're an idiot, teme."

"Hn."

"Sakura hasn't been in Konoha for about three months. She left."

Sasuke's eyes widened a bit and something constricted in his chest. "She became a missing-nin?" His voice remained neutral however.

"She isn't a _traitor_." Naruto stressed the last word, and Sasuke knew the insult was directed at him and he shrugged it off. Naruto continued, "She decided to stop being a shinobi for a while and travel around as a civilian."

"Hn. How foolish." Sasuke scoffed.

"You don't know anything about Sakura anymore, teme." Naruto growled. "Don't you dare judge her."

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort—but was stopped as the door down the hall creaked open and two people walked inside, dragging a third.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled out, lunging forward against the bars as he saw the two Akatsuki dragging the pink-haired woman. The blue-haired woman who threw her in the cell next to Naruto's didn't seem very worried with her safe-keeping. In fact, there was a bit of malice hidden in her blue eyes as she watched the unconscious kunoichi hit the stone floor with a pathetic thump.

"Why is Ishi-san so mean to the pink-haired kunoichi?" The second Akatsuki asked, and Sasuke recognized him as Tobi.

"Sakura!" Naruto continued to call to the limp form.

"Che. The little bitch managed to hit me with her damn jutsu right before she passed out." Ishi spit out a little blood at the feet of the fallen Konoha kunoichi. "When she awakens Pein can get her to heal my lung."

Tobi nodded.

"What the hell did you do to Sakura!?" Naruto roared.

The blue-haired woman sneered, squatting down in front of his cell. "What's wrong Kyuubi? Is she your friend? Family? Fuck-buddy?"

Naruto growled deep in the back of his throat, baring his fangs. The woman merely laughed as she stood. She began walking back towards the door, Tobi following behind her, when Sasuke spoke.

"Why have you brought all three of us here?"

The woman looked back over her shoulder at him, gaze annoyed. She said nothing, however, as she walked out of the door and Tobi closed it behind her. The sound echoed throughout the silent room.

"Damn…" They heard a soft groan come from Sakura's cell. She slowly tried to hoist herself up but fell back down with another curse.

"Sakura! You're awake!"

"I've _been_ awake…" She continued to mutter. She glared at Naruto, emerald eyes sparkling. "Damn it Naruto! How could you let yourself get captured?"

"Eh?" Naruto blinked. "What do you mean Sakura?"

"You are an important member of Konoha and your safety is a top priority. How could you let yourself get carried away? You ran _out of the village_!"

"How did you know that?" Was all Naruto could say.

Sakura sighed. "We passed by the others on our way here. I heard them talking."

Naruto grumbled something under his breath. Sasuke merely look to Sakura.

Just like Naruto she'd changed little but the things that did change were apparent. Her hair must have just until recently been kept short and she'd decided to grow it back out; it was short and barely gracing her shoulders in all its outlandish pink hue. She was taller, curvier and had the muscle she needed to keep up her jutsus. Just as Sasuke remembered, Sakura's eyes were a green as ever. The sparkle that once was so annoyingly prominent had diminished some, and hurt presided over all other things; as if something crucial had just happened.

Sakura was leaning against the wall now, looking completely exhausted. Sasuke couldn't sense a chakra signature coming from her and had to wonder exactly why. Had she used up all her chakra up fighting off her attackers? Surely by now at least some of it would have come back.

It didn't take her long whatsoever to start to take in her surroundings like any good shinobi should. She'd just gotten through with the actual layout of the prison when her jade eyes landed on his black ones; with hidden amusement he saw her eyes widen slightly.

Then she did nothing more, she looked him over quickly, as if not believing he was actually there but then turned back to Naruto who had spoken up once more trying to grab some answers.

"Where's your chakra?" he asked dumbly.

"Kisame's damn sword," she simply said while rotating her shoulder. It ached and she was stiff from the jutsu that that vulgar woman had used on her.

* * *

Tsunade slammed her fists down hard against her desk as seven ANBU, thirteen jonin, and Jiraiya stood in large office; all morbidly quiet. Her honey hued eyes stared towards all the men and women assembled in front of her. 

The attack had started without even a warning. She'd been in her office procrastinating on her paperwork and tuning Shizune out my gently playing with Tonton who even with age managed to be absurdly amusing when the first explosion had been heard right outside her window.

Of course with explosion that close to the Hokage's tower the shinobi had all gone into a fit of panic in fear that their leader could quite possibly be hurt or worse.

Then the chaos and confusion simply continued further. What they figured out to be small, clay animals were exploding all over the west side of the village; in the streets, on the trees and horrifyingly enough in peoples houses and in the shops.

Thankfully there were no deaths. Those that were injured were only hurt to the extent that most of the medic's in the hospital could take care of it. The worst case scenario for this potential attack was when Rock Lee had kicked a spider away from a group of kids and in returned it had exploded near his foot; all damage however had been fixed.

No, the reason for this morbid silence was that the future Rokudaime Hokage of Konoha, Uzumaki Naruto had been abducted without a trace. They all knew the attack had been for him because the moment he disappeared so did all danger.

"Tsunade-sama, surely we should be sending out search parties," one of the ANBU piped up.

"Even if we did I highly doubt that they would be anywhere in the area any longer." The Hokage said thoughtfully as walked over towards the window where the village was trying to repair some of the damage.

"We're not dealing with regular missing-nin, this is Akatsuki," she mused more to herself then to her those around her.

She glanced at one of the ANBU members, "I want you and you two," she said indicating towards other members of the black ops, "To go find Shizune and collect as much information on the Akatsuki hideouts as possible. I want it to me in the next couple hours." All three of them nodded and disappeared quickly.

"You four will bring me every single bit of information on the Akatsuki that we have and that you can find. I want the simplest things; eye color, hair color, height, etcetera..." she ordered and watched the jonin disappear upon her command.

"You three, bring me Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Neji and Aburame Shino…"

"Hokage, Aburame Shino is currently out on a mission that will likely last another couple days," Kurenai piped in.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed at the inconvenience, "Someone send note that they need to get their mission done very quickly. Instead bring me Inuzuka Kiba." The three ANBU nodded their heads and just like their fellow shinobi before them, they also disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"The rest of you are dismissed, go help the village in any way possible." And then as one they all disappeared under their Hokage's orders.

All except one.

"Jiraiya."

"Eh, I was just thinking something about that attack was a little odd." He said shrugging.

"What do you mean you pervert?" Tsunade asked as she wandered back over towards her desk.

"Well, Deidara was with Kisame and Kisame is usually Itachi's partner…" The sannin spoke as he leaned against the wall and crossed his arms.

Tsunade froze mid-sit as she took in what he said, "Do you think Itachi is dead?" she asked hopefully.

"No, I think that the Akatsuki were differently partnered to deal with their specific missions."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed even further as she stared at her old friend. She didn't even hide the fact that she was reaching out for the sake bottle behind her desk.

"Look Tsunade, you just keep worrying about bringing my student back. I'm going to go and do some of my own research." He said and headed towards the door.

"You pervert, this is no time to be looking at women!" she snarled and held out a threatening fist.

He waved her threat down and picked up his pace a bit, "No worries, I'll be back though. Don't do anything to drastic till I get back, okay?" and then he closed the door behind him.

Tsunade took a swig of sake straight from the bottle and let it burn down her throat. Jiraiya was onto something, but what exactly was the question. The Akatsuki wouldn't switch partners at random; they were usually partnered to make up for any weaknesses that could be possible beneath the already powerful missing-nins. No, there was something more behind the mix up and Tsunade had no doubt Jiraiya would find it.

Once he set his mind to it of course.

* * *

"We have all of them now." Kisame grunted, shouldering Samehada as he slumped down into a seat at the table. "Geeze, with all that chakra Samehada's drained I've had to let some go." 

"Hn."

Sasori twiddled with the wooden puppet in his lap, a small smile curving his lips as he brushed a lock of wheat-blonde hair out of its steel gray eyes. "Yes, they will definitely fit together perfectly." He commented, more to himself than the others.

"Just remember that she has to heal me first, yeah." Deidara grunted, wincing as he moved his arms. "Damn Kakuzu…" he muttered under his breath in a silent curse to the dead Akatsuki member; apparently he hadn't put much effort into fixing Deidara's arm as he might do with his own body.

"Silence, all of you." Came Leader's voice from the doorway. All of them looked up as he entered, Ishi behind him, his ever-present shadow.

"Haruno Sakura will not be turned into a puppet until she has lost her usefulness." Ishi warned, giving Sasori a level stare.

Sasori merely went back to his other puppet. "Two medic-nin puppets, and one of them the Godaime's apprentice." His smile grew a bit wider—and it held a new maliciousness. "Wouldn't it be fun to destroy Konoha with their own shinobi?"

"Che." Kisame snorted. "We won't need your puppets after we take the Kyuubi out of the brat."

"Why haven't we done that yet, yeah?" Deidara questioned, looking towards Pein. "We have all the others already."

"Until Itachi gains the new Sharingan we cannot finish the jutsu." Pein murmured.

"You mean the jutsu would never have worked without the kazaguruma?" Kisame asked.

Pein smirked. "Without the kazaguruma the demons will be difficult to control."

"…so you planned this all from the beginning, didn't you? Even before Itachi became a member of the Akatsuki." Ishi gave a small smile. "My, my, Pein, you truly are a genius."

Pein's smile merely widened.

* * *

Karin's chest heaved as she tried to desperately fill her lungs with much needed air. Her glasses slowly began slipping off her nose, the sweat stinging the cut that still bled as she pushed them back up with one finger. 

She was pale and she knew she must have looked like a mess. Her hands shook slightly—and it wasn't just because of excess chakra loss. She looked over at Suigetsu who didn't seem to be faring much better than she was. He was hurriedly gulping more water. He'd probably run out soon.

They both sported numerous cuts that were bleeding rather painfully. Karin had used her minute knowledge of first-aid to patch them up as best as she could, but they needed a healer and fast. _If only Kabuto was still with us. I may not have liked the bastard but at least he knew how to heal a cut._

Suigetsu shifted from his place against the tree trunk and she heard him hiss a bit as the movement jarred his dislocated shoulder. He closed his eyes to fight off a wave of nausea and dizziness and Karin used that time to look around the clearing.

It had once been a large area of forest. Now, however, it was a dust covered wasteland with a few surviving trees and boulders. And in the middle of the clearing—as far away from Karin as possible—lay the prone outline of the last figure of Team Hebi.

The blood was still leaking from his chest and onto the ground. The dust had long since turned a deep maroon. It was his blood that covered her hands and Suigetsu's sword…she blinked a few times, shivering as she remembered the intense chakra that had rushed through her senses when he'd become uncontrollable.

_We tried._ She thought tiredly. _He was just too much. Without Sasuke-kun…_she stopped herself, biting her lip. They were two teammates down…and she was stuck with the man she hated. Where was her dear Sasuke-kun? Had his brother killed him? Where had he taken him?

She had tried so desperately to find his chakra signature but it had seemed to disappear from the face of the planet. And that annoyed her. No, she would be truthful: it royally pissed her off.

She had always sworn that her ability to sense chakra was perfect. Nothing could escape her senses for long. But she couldn't even find a single whiff of him. It was as if he had dropped off the face of the earth.

_Sasuke-kun! I haven't even had sex with you yet! You can't die!_ She wailed inwardly.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Suigetsu panted, his breath coming in short, quiet gasps.

Karin remained completely silent as she looked towards Jugo's deceased body, "What should we do with him?" she asked in return, not bothering to answer the swordsman's question.

"Eh, nature needs fertilizer, leave him here." Suigetsu said, making another attempt to move and testing his limits before the nausea came back.

"We have to find my Sasuke-kun," Karin turned on him, her face desperate.

Suigetsu glared, "How the fuck are we gonna do that you ugly bitch?"

Karin seemed absolutely offended, "Don't call me that you bastard!"

They remained silent after that, one glaring at the other.

"Why do we even need to find Sasuke? His brother took him, and his goal was to kill him. So, wherever he is he's bound to fulfill his purpose in life. We're done." He mentioned, leaning a little further back against the tree, ignoring the way that the tree's bark bit into his skin.

"Damn it Suigetsu!" Karin screamed and slammed her foot against the ground in a childish manner.

"Whatever let's go," He said finally and stood up; hefting the giant sword over his shoulder with a groan.

"Where?"

"I dunno, let's try that place Sasuke is from; you know," he thought it over for a moment, "Konoha."

Karin frowned but moved forward to follow her companion, as much as she despised him.

* * *

**(A/N: Hello everybody! So, here's the new chapter. Of course, D. A. Nico had it out last night--cause I was lazy and dying of sleep deprivation. Since this story is CO-AUTHORED, one of us will probably have the chapter out before the other one. Just wanted to remind all of you that I don't get all the credit for this. D. A. Nico is a wonderful authoress and this is her little story too. So let's all give credit where credit is do. :) **

**So, that's about it. Oh, and we named blue 'Ishi' because it means stone and that kind of went along with her jutsu...so yeah. Anyway, off to finish the chapters of Shades of Grey and Heart of an Artist, Hands of a Killer. Woohoo:P**

**Oh, and if you all want a good SasuSaku to read in the meantime, then check out D. A. Nico's: Two Back, One Gone. It's awesome. So there. **

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka (only one of the authors of this story) **


	4. Chapter 3: Testing the Bonds of Loyalty

**Chapter 3 **

**Testing the Bonds of Loyalty**

It had been nearly a complete day since Sakura had been thrown into the prison cell.

Naruto had been too worn down from getting his chakra depleted by Samehada that he'd slept most of the time, his guttural snores keeping the tiny room from becoming silent.

Sasuke, who'd been subjected to his brother's Sharingan, had also taken it upon himself to take short, brief naps to replenish his lost stamina, his steady breathing was a much more soothing sound then the unbelievable noises that Naruto was managing to pull off.

Sakura was currently the only one awake, and she'd only just done so. Her dreams were filled with visions through her entire life. They'd varied from times with Ino in the fields to being with Souta in the hospital; a horrible aching pain was ripping through her chest at her loss.

The light thumping of someone walking around above them made her sit up just a little bit further. The only time she heard that noise was when someone was coming into the little prison room. They'd only been visited twice so far. Once by Kisame who'd wandered in to check chakra signatures. Then a second time by the blue-haired woman who'd cheerful announced that they wouldn't be getting dinner that evening.

Sakura's jade eyes automatically roved over towards Naruto and then Sasuke. She wondered if she should wake them. Though she had little doubt that the moment someone opened the door that they'd both be wide awake, well at least Sasuke would be. Naruto seemed so far gone that not even the mention of Ramen would budge him, and that was halfway impossible.

The heavy groaning of the wooden door did its job, just as she'd predicted.

Sasuke was the first to react. Still cuffed on the wrists and ankles he had a momentary slow moment as he tried to disentangle himself from the chains that connected him to the wall. He sat up and shook his head from any drowsiness that still lingered. His eyes immediately lighting up and glaring towards the stairway.

Naruto wasn't too far behind his former teammate. His snoring ended abruptly with a quick snort; if they weren't imprisoned and in this situation Sakura might have smiled. He kneeled in his position, his hands against the ground in an almost animalistic squat before he leaned against the wall and ran a hand through his messy hair. It took him a second more before he organized himself to send a deadly glare towards the stairwell.

Sakura heard sandals tapping against the stone and automatically figured there to be two people coming down. The first to appear was the woman.

Naruto snorted angrily as his hands balled into fists.

She smirked as she entered, noticing the three identical glares sent her way. She held the door open as the second person entered through the doorway. He walked inside confidently, his stride powerful. Compared to him, Konan seemed like a little lapdog, ready to grovel and lick his boots at any possible moment.

Sakura recognized him immediately, even if she hadn't seen him before. She'd heard enough about the man to know it was the Leader of the Akatsuki. Besides that, the way that Konan almost physically cowered beneath him was a good hint.

He surveyed the room with an air of disinterest, as if he had come down to see something spectacular and was sorely disappointed. "So…" His voice was cold, and it made Sakura inwardly shiver. "Here you are."

"No _duh_." Naruto grunted.

Konan's eyes narrowed as her hand clenched and she made a few steps towards his cage. "Don't you dare talk to Pein like that you—"

"Enough."

Konan stopped moving, turning to look at Pein. She nodded her head in submission. "Hai."

"It wasn't as difficult to capture you as I had thought it would be. You didn't put up that much of a fight."

"Let us out and we shall see how we fare then, ne?" Sasuke's cold tone was smooth, like steel.

"Che. Without your chakra even _Tobi_ could kill you without much of an effort." Konan taunted.

Naruto let out another deep, throaty growl, Sasuke's eyes narrowed, and Sakura 'hmph'ed loudly.

"Judging by the way the young Haruno is staring I would guess she knows who I am." Pein continued, his hypnotic voice resonating through the room. "My name is Pein."

"A missing-nin of Amegakure."

"And the leader of the Akatsuki." Konan finished.

"What do you want?" Sakura tried to make herself sound calm, cool, and collected, but she knew that her anger was visible.

"You're the Gondaime Hokage's former apprentice and a skilled medic-nin." Pein continued, unfazed at Naruto and Sasuke's glares.

He looked to Konan, then back at Sakura.

"Heal her."

"Like hell she will!" Naruto roared.

"Shut up you insolent little brat." Konan hissed.

Sakura merely looked up into Pein's eyes, those hypnotizing eyes that watched her curiously, waiting for her answer.

Sasuke had yet to say anything, and that irked her.

She cut off eye contact, looking to the side of her cell. "I am a loyal shinobi of Konohagakure. I will not betray my village by healing an enemy."

…

…

…

"As I thought."

No one said anything after Pein's comment. He merely unlocked the door to Sakura's cell. She began shaking a bit as he entered, closing the door behind him. She had no chakra. She was weak and tired. She couldn't fight him off!

"Hey! Get away from her you bastard!" Naruto shouted.

"Get out of her cell." That one was Sasuke, said in his icy cold voice that Sakura hadn't heard for a long time. She remembered it well, back in the forest of death when he'd asked which of the sound-nin had hurt her.

Pein's eyes flickered, and a small smile graced his face at the tone of Sasuke's voice before he stopped in front of Sakura. She was visibly shaking now, as she swallowed to wet her dry throat.

"If you do not heal Konan, than I am sorry to say that you or one of your teammates might get hurt. And without any chakra or medical jutsu it would be very difficult for them to heal themselves, am I correct?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed a bit.

"Don't listen to him Sakura-chan!" Naruto called out. "We'll be fine!"

"No you won't!" Sakura snapped back. "You two damn idiots will die if I don't heal her. Stop trying to _protect_ me!"

There was a moment of stagnant silence before Sakura looked to Konan. "Very well. I'll heal you."

Konan entered the cell and Pein walked back out into the small corridor. Sakura placed her hand on Konan's abdomen, knowing exactly where she'd injured the woman. Her fingertips glowed a faint green as she mended the bone. She felt the drain on her chakra reserves but ignored it. It wasn't as if she could do anything about that at the moment anyway.

She took her hand off as soon as she was finished, ashamed with herself for her weakness. "There."

Konan smirked down at her before she stood. She looked to Pein. "They're completely healed."

"Good."

Sakura bent her head in shame, breathing in a deep breath. She'd just healed her…she'd just betrayed Konoha by healing an s-classed criminal. But she'd saved Sasuke and Naruto in the process and that was all that mattered.

"So you can heal a few broken ribs…" Pein drawled out, looking over at Sasuke. "But what about a cut that can bleed out in a minute or two?" The kunai shot through the bars of the cage quicker than Sakura could see. She let out a scream and Naruto cursed loudly as the kunai embedded itself in the wall of the cell by Sasuke's head. A large gash in his throat gushed with blood as he let out a gurgled choke.

"Sasuke!" Sakura leapt forward, pushing past Konan. The older woman grunted, cursing as Sakura fell onto the ground in front of Sasuke. Her hands flared with green chakra as she pressed them to the wound in his neck. The liquid trickled down her hands to her arms, dripping to the ground from her elbow.

"Sasuke!" That was Naruto, yelling and straining with his own chains.

"Don't die, don't die." Sakura whispered over and over again, a broken, hollow mantra as her chakra flickered and she saw his glazed eyes fixed drowsily upon her. "Don't die, don't die, don't die…"

She didn't have enough chakra to heal him completely. He would die… images of Souta came to mind, the glazed look in his eyes as he fell to the ground after the attack from Sasori's puppet. She hadn't been able to save him either.

_No. No. No. No. Nooooooo…_she wailed silently as she urged more chakra into her hands. "Dammit Sasuke! We just got you back with us! You can't die!" She wondered why she, of all people, was crying. She'd given up on him long ago, hadn't she? But the sight of him bleeding had caused her to snap.

Pein looked from Sakura to Sasuke, his smile a bit more prominent. "Let's go." Konan slammed the door shut on Sasuke's cell, and locked it before she followed behind Pein. The sound of the large door groaning shut was almost unnoticed as Sakura continued sobbing, forcing her chakra into Sasuke.

"Sakura's right, teme!" Naruto yelled. "You can't die! You still have to kill your brother!"

Something in Sasuke's eyes gleamed as he managed to cough out, "Ita…chi…"

"Hai, hai." Sakura nodded. "You still have to kill him. You can't die yet." She could tell he was stabilizing, his eyes becoming more focused.

"Sa…ku…ra…"

She blinked away her tears furiously. "Hai?"

"…st..ill…annoy…ing…" And then his eyes closed.

"Sasuke!" Naruto roared.

"He's sleeping…" Sakura whispered, looking over at Naruto from the cell, a small smile on her face as the tears continued their path along her cheeks. "Just…sleeping…" And she began to feel drowsy to as the effects of overusing her chakra took hold. Her eyes slumped shut and she fell against Sasuke's chest.

"Sakura? Sakura!" Naruto's voice rang through the room as Sakura slowly fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

"I feel weird heading towards Konohagakure." Karin muttered sullenly as she followed ahead of Suigestu. 

"I mean think about it. What are we going to say when we get there? 'Hi, I'm Karin and this is Suigetsu and we've been with Uchiha Sasuke for a couple years now and-"

"Karin…" Suigestu suddenly piped up.

"Yeah?" She replied with a vaguely interested expression. Suigetsu hadn't talked the entirety of the trek. She was happy, _almost_ happy for once in the time they've been together to actually hear him talk.

"Just shut the hell up, seriously." He panted. The lack of water and his dehydration seemed to finally be getting to his nerves. Not that he wouldn't have told Karin to shut up even if he was feeling great.

Karin's fist balled up as she huffed angrily, "Suigetsu!" she growled between gritted teeth.

He eyed her suspiciously, "You're not doing anyone favors here. I know you like to listen to your own voice but I don't."

"Sasuke liked to," Karin muttered as she pushed her glasses further up the bridge of her nose and then crossed her arms.

"No he didn't. He just tuned you out… like I'm trying to right now."

Karin's mouth evolved into a circle as she stared at him in common disbelief and anger. However, he was happy to see—or rather _hear_—that she'd shut up.

"Suigetsu…"

"Damn woman do you ever shut up? That wasn't even two minutes!" The swordsman yelled as he adjusted his grip on the weapon hoisted against his shoulder.

"No you idiot! I was going to ask if you knew where we were." She yelled.

"Uh, no… I've been following you."

"You mean to say we're lost?" She asked in utter disbelief.

"Hey, I just suggested going. You're the one who took off all high and mighty like you knew where you were going."

They both stuttered to a stop and stared at each other with equal levels of hatred that grew with every second.

Suigetsu saw Karin's mouth open once more and he sighed in annoyance as he readied himself for the blasting that she was well known for.

However, Karin never got the chance because suddenly to the two of them were surrounded by four-masked shinobi. All of which looked prepped, refreshed and ready to fight.

"Fuck," Suigetsu sighed, and yanked his sword from his shoulder and shoved it into the ground.

One of the cloaked shinobi stepped forward and with a voice that clearly defined him as a male started to speak, "How about we save everyone the job of getting sweaty and fighting and you tell us who you are?"

Karin beat Suigetsu to the punch, "Are you Konoha ANBU?" she asked.

"Yeah, now how about you tell us who you are?" He finally said in a commanding voice.

"Well we've got important news for the Hokage." Karin lied easily.

Every person on the squad seemed to tense as they tried to pin point whether or not they were any threat to them or their leader.

"What of?" the ANBU finally questioned.

"Well you see we can't go into major detail here, but it's about the missing-nin Uchiha Sasuke." Karin said, her eyes gleaming mischievously.

Almost immediately upon hearing the name, all four black ops unsheathed their weapons and held them up threateningly. Karin simply smiled back.

Suigetsu looked between all of them and sighed, "Can I have some water?"

* * *

Sakura didn't want to open her eyes. She had just had a very pleasant dream and her eyelids felt too heavy to move. Besides that she was lying against something warm. Warmth was so much better than the cold at her back, even if the warmth was breathing and tickling the hairs at the nape of her neck. 

Her brow furrowed in annoyance as she heard something moving about above her. She gave a yawn, turning her head a bit and blearily opening her eyes.

She screamed.

As she launched off of Sasuke—completely awake now—and against the wall of the cell, both of her teammates awoke with a start. The person who had been leaning over her fell backwards, flailing to keep his balance and failing miserably.

"Ow…" The orange and black masked Akatsuki member rubbed his butt, standing.

"Get the hell away from Sakura-chan!" Naruto roared.

"Hn." Sasuke coughed a bit, and his eyes flickered in pain as he tried not to wince. Sakura could still see a faint red line where his wound had been and she knew that it hurt. She hadn't been able to completely heal it the night before.

Wait…the warm thing she'd been sleeping on…

Sakura decided to ignore the blush rising to her cheeks and turn her attention to Tobi. "What the hell!?"

"Tobi was just coming to take pink-haired prisoner-san to Leader-sama…" Tobi muttered, more to himself than to them. "Tobi didn't know they'd all be so _mean_ about it."

"I'll rip your throat out if you don't _get out of that cell_!" Naruto growled.

"You are not taking Sakura anywhere." Sasuke finally managed to comment, his voice raspy.

Sakura opened her mouth to say she could handle herself just fine, but closed it when she realized that she could do no such thing. Then again…neither could the other two. For one, Naruto was in a cell across the hall and Sasuke was chained to a wall. Two, all three of them were out of chakra.

Tobi sighed. "Come on prisoner-san. Leader-sama doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Don't touch me!" Sakura shrieked as Tobi grabbed her arm.

"Dammit! Let go of her!" Naruto yelled.

"Don't be so loud—oomph!" Tobi fell to the ground once more, compliments of Sasuke who had kicked his legs out from under him.

As Sasuke watched the Akatsuki member fall he had a sudden urge to strangle the man with his feet.

"Yeah! Kick his ass teme!" Naruto cheered.

"Hold him still!" Sakura ordered as she lunged forward, trying to grab the keys that Tobi held in his hand. Unfortunately her speed had slowed considerably due to fatigue and no charka, so he grabbed her arm before she reached him, throwing her onto the ground and sitting atop her triumphantly—out of range of Sasuke's killer feet of course.

He twirled the keys on his finger. "Prisoner-san should know that you aren't supposed to take something that isn't yours."

"Get off of her!"

Sasuke made a deep growl in the back of his throat as Sakura struggled beneath Tobi. Naruto continued yelling obscenities.

"Get offa me…" Sakura grumbled, trying to get her leg up enough to kick him. But he had pinned her arms above her head with one hand and he was straddled too far up on her hips for her to get her legs up.

"You're a dead man!" Naruto continued threatening.

"Get. Off. Of. Her."

Sakura blinked, Naruto grew silent, and Tobi turned to look at Sasuke. He was glaring at the masked Akatsuki member intently, and even in his beaten, bedraggled state he managed to look intimidating.

"Hm. Tobi is going to go take the pink-haired prisoner-san to Leader-sama now…" Tobi grabbed Sakura, literally dragging her out of the cell. She elbowed him in the stomach as he hauled her to her feet but he merely gave a small grunt before he held her arms so tightly behind her back there was no way she could move them.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled. "Let her go!"

"Tobi is just following orders." Tobi said simply, opening the door and taking Sakura with him.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Sakura."

Sakura barely heard Sasuke's hoarse yell as the door closed behind her and the voices of her two teammates were cut off completely.

* * *

Tsunade couldn't help feel frustrated. Dragging a hand across her face and leaning back she puckered up a lip in the form of a classic pout. It didn't take long before everyone in the village new of Naruto's kidnapping. Rumor spread like wildfire in a city this big. 

Tsunade leaned her chair even further back as it tipped back and forth in a threatening manner. Her own source of stability was her knee against the desk as she concentrated on keeping herself from falling over backwards.

Tsunade's eyes flew open as the doors to her office came crashing open at an alarming pace. All concentration broken Tsunade couldn't help flailing her arms out as she fell backwards and hit the ground with a dull thump. Today hadn't been the best day to test her limits with sake.

"Oh no, Tsunade-sama!"

For a couple seconds the Hokage didn't even bother moving from her fallen spot on the floor. Her honey eyes closed and an arm over her head as she tried to figure out if this was worth dealing with.

A gentle prodding near her thigh made the blonde woman open her eyes.

"Tonton!"

Leaning forward she picked up the pig and dragged the little animal onto her chest and hugged the hoofed creature against her bosom, "Have you missed me? We should go spend some time together." She declared.

Shizune, who had been politely silent, kneeling loyally at her side, gave a sigh. "Tsunade-sama this is important."

"Does it have anything to do with Naruto or the Akatsuki?"

"Not exact—"

"Then it has no importance to me at the moment." Tsunade replied, releasing the animal, which she was unknowingly suffocating.

"Well you see, it's about Uchiha Sasuke."

Tsunade immediately sat up, "Why didn't you tell me sooner Shizune?" the woman exclaimed, "Hurry and tell me! Have we captured the little twerp?"

"Not exactly…" Shizune muttered.

Tsunade didn't say a word. She instead waited for her apprentice to continue and found amusement in watching Tonton strut across the wooden floor in all her aging glory and plop herself down onto the bed provided for her.

Tsunade couldn't help but be a little jealous. It would be so easy to be a pig.

"We've captured both Suigetsu and Karin."

"Who?" Tsunade asked as she hoisted herself up from the ground and dusted off her robes.

"Sasuke's teammates from Hebi," Shizune informed, trying to urge Tsunade into remembering who they were.

A while back, there had been discussion on resuming a full-scale search for the Uchiha; this had been Naruto's idea. They'd been slowly collecting information and they'd easily discovered that Sasuke had been traveling around with three other people and they'd called themselves the Hebi.

Tsunade snapped her fingers, "Right, what about the third member?"

"No sign of him in the group and they have yet to question the two remaining members on either his presence or Uchiha Sasuke's. They are currently being brought to Konoha; at least that is what the message said."

Tsunade straightened her chair as she glanced towards the clock, "Any idea what time they'll be getting in?"

"Nothing scheduled," Shizune said as she noticed Tsunade's transformation from non-caring drunken woman to serious Hokage.

"The moment they reach my gates I want to know and I want them disarmed and in my office as soon as possible." Tsunade ordered simply.

"Hai!" Shizune said nodding her head low before disappearing to pass the news along to the watch.

Tsunade plopped down into her chair and glanced over to where Tonton was.

The little pig was comfortably settled on her pillow and her big brown eyes were open as she paid close attention to Tsunade, almost looking at the woman suspiciously.

"Want to switch jobs?" Tsunade suddenly asked.

Tonton only snorted.

* * *

It was some time later that the two were actually brought in. By this time Tsunade had efficiently 'sobered herself up' and was sitting behind her desk with the serious, commanding air of a powerful Hokage. 

The red-headed female—Karin, that was her name, _Karin_—seemed to be intimidated at least. The man looked around the room with an air of detachment. From what Shizune had told her—and the files she had read, his name was Suigetsu.

"Sit." She ordered solemnly.

Karin did so meekly, but she looked as if she were going to protest and then thought better of it. Suigetsu shrugged, slumping down into his chair and propping his feet up on her desk. _Her _desk.

"Get your feet off or I will forcibly remove them for you." Came a nonchalant voice from the window.

Tsunade turned to see Kakashi leaning in the sill, looking at the two shinobi in front of him lazily.

Karin jumped, and Suigetsu raised an eyebrow as Kakashi jumped from the windowsill and landed on the ground nimbly. He was wearing his ANBU attire, something he'd grown accustomed to doing lately ever since his team had disbanded.

Suigetsu continued to stare at Kakashi, not moving his feet. He then gave what could have been considered an annoyed sigh as he removed them.

Kakashi handed a scroll to Tsunade and was about to leave—even IF he was dying from curiosity—when Tsunade stopped him. "Kakashi, you've been away for a few days. You deserve to know exactly what has happened and I have a feeling these two know a little something."

"I heard about Naruto…" Kakashi's voice was imperceptibly soft.

"The Kyuubi?" Karin piped in, but was silenced from saying anything else by three glares—two from the Konoha-nin and one from her own teammate.

Tsunade's gaze darkened. "Sit down Kakashi, while these two _elaborate_ on their reasons for entering Konoha's borders."

Kakashi leaned against the wall, ignoring the seat beside Suigetsu purposely.

"Now then, where is the traitor Uchiha Sasuke and the other member of Hebi, Juugo?" Tsunade began, her honey-colored eyes hardening to the likeness of amber drops.

Karin exchanged a glance with Suigetsu, but after seeing that he wasn't rushing to explain, decided to speak. "Juugo was eliminated after we lost control of him and he became a threat to us."

"He was mentally unstable, correct?"

"Hai." Karin nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose. "The only people who had been able to control him in the past were Kimimaru and more recently, Sasuke-kun."

"Sasuke-kun?" Kakashi mused allowed.

"By you saying 'in the past' I would guess that the reason Uchiha Sasuke could not control him is because he was absent at the time?"

"Hai."

"And where was he, exactly?"

Karin shifted uneasily, saying nothing. There was a long moment of silence before Suigetsu finally drawled out, "He was taken by his brother Uchiha Itachi and another Akatuski member."

…

…

…

"Excuse me?" Tsunade sputtered out.

"I don't know the other Akatsuki member's name. The only recognizable one was Itachi." Suigetsu continued offhandedly. "Although he didn't seem very smart. I suppose he was a new member, or a lackey of some kind—"

"How about you rewind back to the part where Uchiha Sasuke _was captured by the Akatsuki_." Tsunade hissed out.

Suigetsu blinked, before sighing. "I just told you what we know, that's it."

"Do you know why?" Kakashi asked calmly from where he still leaned against the wall.

Karin shook her head, speaking before Suigetsu could. "No. He said…something…" She bit her lip as if trying to remember. She snapped her fingers, grinning. "Something about Sasuke's Sharingan abilities!"

"But Itachi's abilities far exceed Sasuke's." Tsunade mused aloud. "Why would he be interesting in Sasuke?"

"Perhaps he views him as a threat?" Suigetsu offered.

"No." Kakashi shook his head. "I have met him before. If he viewed Sasuke as a threat he would have killed him straight off. He would not have taken him with him."

"Before we continue with this, I have a question for the two of you." Tsunade turned to the remaining members of team Hebi. "Why did you decide to come here?"

"You are the only ones who can save Sasuke-kun!" Karin exclaimed.

"He's a traitor. Why would we save him?" Tsunade asked coldly.

"Whatever the Akatsuki want him for must be important, right?" Suigetsu asked archly, grinning. "You don't want to give them the upper hand, do you?"

Tsunade frowned.

"Besides," Karin jumped in, "you said something happened to the Kyuubi. Maybe it's related. What did happen to him anyway?"

"That falls under the category of none of your damn business." Tsunade snapped out.

Karin gave an offended gasp and opened her mouth to retort when Suigetsu spoke, elbowing her in the ribs. "Listen, we don't really care about Konoha, but we don't have anything against you either. We've never directly threatened your village, have we?"

He had a good point.

"What are you offering in exchange for you freedom, since I suppose you have a bargaining chip. No one would come in here without something they could use as leverage." Tsunade spoke.

Suigetsu nodded. Karin answered, "In one of Orochimaru-sama's abandoned Sound bases there are secret files with information on the Akatsuki bases from his time as a member. Perhaps if we go to one of these old bases we can gain information on Sasuke-kun's whereabouts and—"

"First, there is no _we_. Second, who said we were letting you go anywhere? Third, why would we trust you? And fourth, who knows how outdated that information is?" Tsunade commented harshly.

Karin snapped her mouth shut, still glaring.

Tsunade simply crossed her arms and waited.

"Orochimaru-sama had spies all over the place and Kabuto was excellent at gathering accurate information, I'm sure it's updated. Besides, let's just say Orochimaru was a little obsessive about his old position." Karin quickly said, pushing her glasses further up on the bridge of her nose.

"It could be helpful and give us the lead we don't have," Kakashi piped up.

Tsunade glared over towards him. Her pride didn't want to lower itself to agreeing that these two were correct but finally she sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Kakashi, since you're so adamant with this idea you will be going with Karin."

Kakashi leaned forward with a small bedraggled noise.

The Hokage smirked, "You, Karin and Sai will be heading back to the stated location to look for the records and then immediately report back to Konoha."

Suigetsu looked around the room as if searching for his answer, "Aren't I going?"

"No," Tsunade answered immediately, "We will keep you here for a sort of leverage, while your teammate goes and gets the bargaining chip."

"She doesn't want me back, she doesn't care!" Suigetsu said waving frantically in the general direction of Karin.

"Right…" Tsunade said eyeing him in an amused manner.

Finally she turned back to Kakashi, "Go warn Sai, I want you both ready within the hour. Then get someone to give these two nourishment and fresh clothes."

"Fuck," was all Suigetsu could manage as his freedom was put into the hands of…_her._

* * *

**(A\N: Yeah, I know it's been forever since we've updated this story. Both Danico and I have been extremely busy so...yeah...but here ya go! A little Thanksgiving treat. :D I hope you all enjoyed it. Can't wait for the next chapter, can you? Who else loves Suigetsu? He's awesome, ne?**

**Well, that's it for now!**

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka)**


	5. Chapter 4: Covetous Minds

**Chapter 4**

**Covetous Minds**

"Get off of me!" Sakura growled out as she struggled in Tobi's grip. His fingers tightened around her wrists painfully, and she tried to jerk away from him.

"You will stop if you know what is best for you."

Sakura froze, mostly because the voice that came passed Tobi's mask was dark and cold, nothing like before. She didn't hesitate, however, to spit at the Akatsuki member. Her saliva splattered across his mask, and she saw his one good eye narrow, glowing crimson.

Crimson…the Sharingan! She paled, before she was slammed against the wall roughly. She let out a small gasp as the stone cut into her, breaking the skin. Wet rivulets of blood began dripping down to the grey stone floor.

"You should know your place here, woman." He hissed darkly, and Sakura felt herself tremble at the sound. He sounded deadly and powerful. That was not a good combination. She struggled a bit more, but he held her firmly against the wall, his body pressed against hers.

"Who…who are you…?" She managed to gasp out.

Tobi merely lifted up a hand to his mask, slipping it off. Sakura tried to look at his face, but he turned her head roughly to the side and all she glimpsed was skin. Also, the entire hallway was dimly lit, making it impossible to make anything out in the shadows.

"Do you know what you are wanted for here, Sa-ku-ra?" He pronounced every syllable of her name in a whisper, his breath brushing against her neck. She had given up struggling, trying to shrink back from him against the wall.

"When Pein and Itachi come for what we need, give it to me." Tobi chuckled darkly as Sakura stiffened, craning her face away from his lips. It only made her neck more accessible, as he brushed his lips along the soft surface.

"W-what?"

In her peripheral vision, Sakura could see a sinister smile curling along his lips. She couldn't get a great look at his face because he was still holding her face. Alas, she caught movement and saw him pulling his mask back down.

Almost suddenly, the life-threatening grip against her flesh became gentler, less deadly.

Sakura couldn't help the stilted sigh that blew through her lips as she tried to quickly calm herself down. She slowly turned her head to see Tobi staring at her curiously.

She opened her mouth to say something but was at a loss for words as she stared directly over his shoulder into the ruby red eyes of Uchiha Itachi. She could literally feel the color draining from her face as she once again for the second time stared into the Sharingan.

"Tobi, why is the prisoner out of the dungeon?" He asked coldly, eyes narrowing.

"Tobi does not know. She must have escaped," he looked towards Itachi momentarily before looking back, "Tobi just found her."

Itachi locked eyes with Sakura, and she hurriedly looked away, focusing on the line of his jaw. He seemed to notice her hesitation, for his eyes narrowed a bit in suspicion.

"See that it does not happen again, Tobi. Get her back to her cell."

"Hai! Tobi is a good boy." Tobi laughed as he grabbed Sakura and pulled her back towards the cell. Sakura looked back for a moment—almost pleadingly—at Itachi and saw him still watching them, or more correctly, watching Tobi.

Was it so pathetic that she would rather be in the company of Uchiha Itachi than this enigma of a man known as Tobi? His touch made Sakura want to shrivel up and die, and his hands were cold, like ice. The only thing warm about him seemed to be his breath, and she never wanted to feel that anywhere near her again.

* * *

The door grated open and both Naruto and Sasuke looked up to see Tobi dragging Sakura inside. He actually wasn't having a hard time dragging her. She walked behind him willingly, and her face was extremely pale.

"What did you do to her you bastard!?" Naruto snarled.

"Tobi didn't do anything. Tobi is a good boy." Tobi boasted as he opened the cell to Sasuke's cage. "Tobi is sooo good that he's going to let Pinky-san stay with Uchiha-chan, ok?"

Sakura still said nothing, but the moment he let her go she scuttled to the other side of the cell, near Sasuke.

Tobi cocked his head to the side innocently, before he began walking towards the door, "Tobi will bring the three prisoner-sans their food later, ok?"

The door closed behind him, and they were engulfed in silence.

"What did he do, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked concernedly.

"Nothing." She whispered, and she seemed to be far away, lost in her own thoughts.

"Sakura."

At the sounds of Sasuke's voice, raspy and weak from his throat injury, Sakura snapped out of her thoughts and turned to him with a small smile. "Are you feeling a little better Sasuke?"

"Hn." Even his usual grunt sounded strained, and she saw him wince. She quickly placed a hand to his throat. She didn't have enough chakra to heal him, but she could at least assess him for any other damage.

"…I suppose none of this would have happened if we were all in Konoha, would it?" She finally asked softly.

Sasuke wouldn't meet her eyes, and Naruto gave a soft sigh.

"They would have gotten us sooner or later." Sasuke finally answered back.

"I guess you didn't get to kill your brother, eh teme?" Naruto finally grunted.

Sasuke glared at him, "What was that?"

"Well I mean, you went on and on about how powerful you'd become after you severed your ties with us…and you didn't seem any more capable of killing him than before."

"Take it back…" Sasuke growled, and it sounded even more threatening from his wounded throat.

"Enough." Sakura snapped, blocking Sasuke from Naruto's view and vise-versa. "This isn't the time to be angry with one another. We need to stick together."

"Then let's hear where you've been, Sakura. I am guessing that you were not in Konoha from your earlier words." Sasuke commented softly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sakura finally whispered, and they heard the catch in her voice, as if she were speaking through tears.

Naruto was the one who answered, "We need to get to know each other again, don't we? We're so far apart now; we're kind of like strangers." He grinned a bit. "So, here's our first order of business." He lowered his voice a bit in an imitation of Kakashi, "Alright team, let's get to know each other. Tell us your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future…and what you've been doing these past few months, ne?"

Sakura gave a soft laugh. "Hai Kakashi-sensei." She sat down next to Sasuke, a good foot away from him, however. Perhaps she thought he needed space, or maybe she just didn't want to sit next to him. Either way, Sasuke remained silent.

"I'll go first then," Sakura volunteered.

"For the first couple weeks after I left Konoha I decided to just travel around as a civilian. I wasn't a medic, I wasn't a ninja, and I was simply a normal person. I wanted to see different cultures without being a threat and I wanted to see how the schooling and medicinal methods were different."

"Somewhere along the way I met up with Souta, he was an amateur medic from Stone who wanted to learn more. We met under horrible circumstances but became great," Sakura stuttered momentarily, "friends."

"For the rest of the time after that I remained in the village with Souta and taught him, all the while deciding to work in the hospital again. Before being captured by Sasori and the female Akatsuki member we were planning to move on to another city, but; I got captured."

She finished her story with a role of her shoulders, her eyes glazing over momentarily as she thought back to her loss.

"My turn then!" Naruto grinned. "Let's see I—"

"You've been in the village. I doubt you've done anything different than normal. Shut up." Sasuke muttered.

"Teme!"

"Dobe."

Sakura gave a small smile as she looked between the two of them. _My boys…_

"What about you, Sasuke?" Sakura finally asked as they two glared at each other.

"Che." Sasuke snorted. "Nothing much. I created my team and we have been traveling around in search of Itachi."

"Congratulations, you found him." Naruto muttered under his breath.

Sasuke shot him a hate-filled glare. "At least I lost to someone powerful. _You_ lost to the Akatsuki member that _I_ defeated earlier."

"Actually you apparently didn't defeat him if he's still alive." Sakura put in.

Naruto laughed, while Sasuke gave Sakura a withering look.

Sakura decided to move the topic of discussion away from Sasuke's brother. "Well…what about your team, Sasuke? Who are they?"

"Not important."

"Of course they are, idiot." She snapped before she even realized she'd done it. When she was younger she never would have told _the_ Uchiha Sasuke that he was an idiot. But that was then and this was now…and Sakura had no qualms with knocking his ego down a few pegs.

Sasuke gave her a surprised glance, before he grunted and began. "There is Suigetsu. He's from mist."

"…and?"

"He uses Momochi Zabuza's old sword." Sasuke grunted.

"Ah." Sakura nodded. "And the other two?"

"Karin."

Sakura immediately recognized the name as female. "…who is she?" She tried to make her voice sound casual.

"A skilled kunoichi." Sasuke continued blandly. "She has impeccable chakra sensory abilities."

"I didn't hear you talk like this about Suigetsu." Sakura muttered under her breath. "Does she have a nice rack too?"

Whether or not Sasuke heard her comment he made no move to answer her question.

"What about the last member?" Naruto finally broke in, noticing Sakura's frown.

"His name is Juugo."

Sasuke looked up to see both his old teammates giving him flat stares, waiting for him to continued. He grunted, swallowing to wet his sore throat before he continued. "Orochimaru's curse seal is derived from his kekkei genkai. It causes him to go into a berserker-like state."

"Eh?" Naruto blinked a few times. He then whistled, "Dang, that guy's probably as strong as I am!"

"The only person who can calm him down is myself when he gets into those states."

There was a small moment of silence, before Sakura leapt up from her sitting position. "Then who's calming him down now? What happens if he goes into that berserker state?"

"I suppose he'd kill anything or anyone in sight." Sasuke muttered nonchalantly.

* * *

The silence was becoming unbearable. Karin looked from Kakashi to Sai. She had to admit, the younger boy was cute, and he reminded her a lot of Sasuke-kun…she quickened her pace so that she was walking side-by-side with him.

"How long do you think it will take for us to get there?"

He said nothing, training his eyes ahead, sometimes looking to the left and right in search of anything amiss.

"Well?"

"You are the one who knows the way. I would suppose you'd be the only person to know the answer to that question." He gave her a cold stare, but not a cruel one. "Do you always talk this loud while in enemy territory?"

"What do you mean?"

"If so then it is no wonder you and the Uchiha traitor were caught off guard. You'd be heard from miles away and your voice would drown out the sounds of the enemy shinobi's advancements from your teammates."

"Are you insinuating that my voice is ugly?" Karin hissed. He said everything with that same, damn aloofness. He didn't smirk, his voice never changed tones…he talked like a robot!

He then gave a small smile, "No. It just reminds me of a banshee."

"WHAT!?!?!" Karin shrieked, lunging for him.

Sai easily leapt away without a noise and Karin was about to make her second attempt when a third party intervened on their one-sided fight.

"Knock it off."

Karin glanced over to the almost forgotten shinobi. He'd discarded his ANBU uniform for this mission and reinstated the green vest and headband of his fellow shinobi. When he'd first appeared in this outfit Karin had to wonder what the man had to hide behind the mask and had come up with numerous ploys to remove it. Alas, she didn't go through with any of her ideas for fear of her physical and mental health.

They continued on silently for another five minutes before Kakashi glanced back over towards Karin, "So you and Sasuke, eh?"

Karin glanced over, "What?"

"How close were you two?" Kakashi asked.

Unknown to Kakashi's perversions, Karin smiled wickedly. These people didn't know the truth. "Sasuke and I were madly in love. In fact, I have no doubt that we are going to get married as soon as he's found again. He said he wanted me to help restore the Uchiha Clan, you know."

"Oh really?" Kakashi sounded mildly interested. "Isn't that something, eh Sai? Poor Sakura, she'll be devastated when we tell her." He saw Karin's eyes narrow and he gave a small smile. She'd taken the bait perfectly.

"Who is Sakura?"

"Sasuke's old teammate." Kakashi answered. "She had a very large crush on him when they were younger."

"Oh…?" Karin's eyes resembled small slits as she clenched her hands. How _dare_ someone think about liking _her_ Sasuke-kun?

"It's too bad." Kakashi sighed. "I'm sure if Sasuke saw Sakura again he might have to reconsider. She was pretty cute looking when I last saw her. What do you think Sai?"

"She was pleasing to the eyes." Sai agreed. "And she has grown into her forehead. Most of our year mates have crushes on her."

Karin gulped. _Oh god…she's that hot? I've heard of Sasuke-kun's year mates…that Hyuga seemed pretty hot. Are they trying to tell me that guy had the hots for Sasuke-kun's teammate?_

One word screamed in Karin's mind: competition.

"Sasuke-kun never talked about her." Karin intervened haughtily. "She must not have been that important then, eh?"

Kakashi shrugged. "He always liked to hide his little crush on her. You know, she's the only one he said goodbye to when he left for Sound."

"He said _goodbye_ to her?" Karin shrieked.

_And knocked her out…but I'm not going to tell you that part_, Kakashi smiled before continuing, "Oh yes. And she's a magnificent medic-nin now, very skilled and powerful. She was Tsunade's apprentice after all."

"THAT Sakura!?" Karin stared blankly at the two of them for a moment. They had to be joking…if Sasuke knew she was that strong…he had always been drawn to power after all…and she was a medic-nin? He would need someone to heal him after killing Itachi. That meant he would find her useful! Inside, Karin felt like curling into a ball and dying.

_Alright, I suppose I've tortured her enough_, Kakashi sighed inwardly. "Well, let's continue on then, shall we?"

Karin immediately sidled up to Sai, seeing that Kakashi was not going to continue the discussion. "What is she like?"

"Who?"

"Sakura, you baka!" Karin snapped.

Sai's eyes flickered towards her, then ahead again. "She has pink hair."

"Che." Karin snorted. "What an ugly color."

"Most men that I have met have said it is beautiful. Exotic, I think." Sai smiled his fake smile. "And with her green eyes they say she looks like a fairy."

"…a hot fairy?"

"I do not know if her body temperature has anything to do with her attractiveness—"

"Ugh!" Karin groaned, ignoring Sai's last comment. This was not good. Not good at all.

* * *

Tsunade stared down at the stack of files in front of her with a foreboding feeling. She _hated_ paperwork…but this had to be done. She sighed, grabbing a file from the biggest stack in the Team 7 folders. On the corner tab was an Uchiha symbol.

_Alright, I need to put the latest information on Uchiha Sasuke in the retrieval mission file…_she frowned a bit, biting the inside of her cheek. The mission itself wasn't so that they could retrieve the Uchiha, but because he was somehow involved his information was needed in the mission file for the council to review.

The file on Uzumaki Naruto was just as voluminous as the Uchiha's. She grabbed the top part of that stack and leafed through it before placing it in the mission folder as well. She wondered why she even bothered. Even if the council approved this mission they didn't have enough shinobi to carry it out. With the threat of the Kyuubi being extracted and that power being in the Akatsuki's hands, Tsunade had issued and order that all Konoha shinobi on missions to return to the village as soon as possible. They couldn't risk an attack of that scale with half of their shinobi missing.

_I'm missing something…I know it_. She thought, frustrated. _Why the hell do the Akatsuki want Uchiha Sasuke…? I have to put the Akatsuki's supposed motive in this file if I want any chance of the council approving it…_

They already have Uchiha Itachi, so it can't be the Sharingan…Tsunade's face paled, before she jumped out of her chair and ran out of the room and down the hall.

"Hello Tsunade-sama—ahhh!" Shizune yelled as Tsunade pushed her out of the way in her haste towards a large locked door at the end of the hall. Three Anbu stood guarding it. They tensed as Tsunade came near.

"What is it, Tsunade-sama?"

"I need the Uchiha secret files. Now." She ground out, looking deathly ill.

"T-Tsunade-sama? Are you alright?" Shizune asked hesitantly, picking herself off of the floor.

"Just get me the damn files!" She roared.

The Anbu flinched before nodding. One disappeared inside, coming out a second later with a file in hand. It wasn't thick; in fact it was relatively thin. She would have thought one of the most infamous secrets in Konoha would have been…larger…

She took the folder and flipped it open. The pages were written in ancient Konoha code, one that hadn't been used since Konoha had been founded. _The only reason I even know about this file is because Sarutobi-sensei said that the First had made sure it was well protected and placed it in the most secure place he could find—the kenjutsu scroll room. And then Orochimaru tried to steal it…_

Her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the files, not really reading them as a memory surfaced.

"_What are you doing Orochimaru?" Jiraiya asked, standing at the door of the kenjutsu scroll room. Tsunade stood beside her white-haired teammate, frowning as she looked into the dust darkened room._

_Orochimaru was looking down at something on a large table in the middle of the room. The entire room was riddled with paper, scrolls, and books. It smelled like mold and dust._

"_Just taking a peek." Orochimaru smiled, and Tsunade found that the smile didn't make her want to melt like it had used to. Instead, it made her insides freeze, and she clenched her hands, almost taking a step behind Jiraiya to keep herself out of Orochimaru's view._

"_We aren't allowed in here without permission from the Council and the Hokage." Jiraiya continued, frowning. "Come on, we have to get out."_

"_Did you know…that there is a secret to the Sharingan, Jiraiya? One that even Hisao-san doesn't know about?" Uchiha Hisao was the current head of the Uchiha Clan. His son was Fugaku. _

"_What?" Tsunade blurted out. "You aren't supposed to be looking at things like that, Orochimaru!"_

"_Just think…if we unraveled the secret, Tsunade…" Orochimaru licked his lips. "Perhaps we could find a way to bring Dan and your little brother back."_

_Tsunade's face fell at the mention of her loss and Jiraiya glared at Orochimaru, pointing a finger. "Get out now, Orochimaru. And don't you ever mention them again, got it?"_

_Orochimaru's eyes flickered down to the file, before he sighed and put it up, walking towards them. As he passed them, walking out into the hallway, he spoke, "Stop being so uptight, Jiraiya. I was just looking. You act as if I was going to steal the thing."_

_Jiraiya merely watched him go, eyes hard. He turned to Tsunade and saw that a tear was falling down her cheek. He smiled, wiping it away with his thumb. "Hey, don't worry about him Tsunade-chan. He's an asshole, remember?"_

Tsunade finally found the page in the file she was looking for. She skimmed most of it before her eyes fell upon the last few sentences. She felt faint as she read and then reread them.

_No…but if they want to give this to Uchiha Itachi…it isn't possible, unless they transplant them…but they'd need a skilled medic-nin for that…_And the folder fell from suddenly lax fingers, spilling all over the floor.

"No…" Tsunade whispered hoarsely as Shizune and the three Anbu let out exclamations of surprising, hurrying to pick up the scattered papers.

They would need a skilled medic-nin to succeed in the procedure…and at the thought; Tsunade's mind went back to the smallest pile of folders on her desk regarding team seven. The files of the only kunoichi…of her own apprentice.

Haruno Sakura.

"I need five messenger birds sent out to our allied countries. Ask them to search their lands for any sign of Haruno Sakura or news of her whereabouts."

"H-hai Tsunade-sama." Shizune nodded as she and two of the Anbu disappeared. One Anbu stayed behind to guard the door.

Tsunade bit her lip, beginning the summoning jutsu for her slugs. She was going to need all the help she could get.

* * *

**(A/N: Hiya everybody! Danico and I are very sorry about the wait. But Dani's computer has been going insane lately AND she hurt her wrist, so typing this out has been pretty hectic. So I thank all of you for being understanding. :D We hope you liked it very much. **

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka and D.A.Nico)**


	6. Chapter 5: Casualties

**Chapter 5**

**Casualties  
**

_Lady Hanaka  
D. A. Nico_

* * *

"…he could…kill everyone?" Sakura whispered, staring at Sasuke in horror. The Uchiha merely nodded.

"Damn teme!" Naruto roared, waving his arms around. "What kind of an idiot are you? Someone like that can't be trusted!"

_A monster like that must be eliminated immediately._

The statement hung over all of them and Sakura flinched a bit, seeing Naruto deflate as he realized what his words had indicated. He looked down at the ground as Sasuke and Sakura watched him.

"…sorry…that isn't what I meant…" he whispered. He remembered the times that the Konoha council had wanted him dead because they believed he was a threat to the village's safety.

"I guess…I guess we've all become a little bitter haven't we?" He finally murmured. "I mean…not bitter, just…older! Yeah, we've all just grown up a bit, ne?" And he laughed, but the laughter faded quickly as the other two watched him silently.

_Naruto's right. We're different. _Sakura's eyes drifted to her dark-haired teammate. _Naruto and I changed because of Sasuke and he changed because of Itachi…_

She wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. How on earth had the three of them become so completely under the control of the murderous Uchiha? He had twisted their childhoods with his actions without even knowing it. Surely he would find it all rather amusing if he knew.

He'd ruined three lives instead of just one.

_He'd be delighted with the news, most likely._ She looked up at her two teammates to see them watching each other, a spark of their old rivalry shining in their eyes. _And yet…we never would have been this close without all that loss and grief, would we?_

She winced as she leaned against the cold stone wall behind her. The scratches on her back—complements of Tobi's abrupt personality change—had finally stopped bleeding. She wished she had some chakra to heal the wounds but she realized that any chakra she gained would be needed to heal Sasuke.

_I bet I'm the only one who would think that Uchiha Itachi has affected our lives in a _positive_ way as well. _She sighed softly, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Naruto and Sasuke were arguing over something and she merely closed her eyes, listening to their banter. It was soothing…it reminded her days passed, of days where they weren't worrying about s-classed criminals or jinchuurikis or psychotic Akatsuki members with bipolar tendencies.

But thanks to Uchiha Itachi…those days were far behind them. Things would never be the same because of that one man…and Sakura realized that neither Sasuke nor Naruto realized this. Or maybe they just didn't give it as much thought as she did.

She felt herself beginning to drift off to sleep, as she slumped forward a bit, he forehead resting on her knees.

They didn't realize…they didn't realize that this one man was so intricately woven in all of their lives that one wrong move would be fatal to them all.

* * *

Kakashi's eyes twitched in annoyance as he slammed down his summoning scroll with a bit more force than was necessary. If his companions noticed this they said nothing. Of course, Karin had yet to shut her mouth long enough to notice _anything_.

A small cloud puffed up immediately and disappeared with quick fluidness. The small brown dog that greeted them was pug faced and had a grumpy sheen to his features.

"Kakashi, a little irritated I feel," Pakkun responded casually and shook his body of any stiffness.

Said man sighed and let his eyes travel over towards the red haired woman who was blabbering away.

"Yeah, gotcha. How about you give me my assignment so my ears stop bleeding?" The dog grumbled under his breath.

"You remember Orochimaru's scent right?" Kakashi asked easily.

Pakkun's nose shriveled up in a foul distaste, "No one could forget the odor. The nasty scent of snake!"

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask, "Excellent we're within half a day's travel of one of his bases. Karin can't recall the exact location so we need a lead. Try and have the information to us in the next couple hours."

"Right," Pakkun nodded his head. Three more dogs suddenly appeared and they all quickly jumped away, noses twitching and alert.

Kakashi stood and slowly tuned back into Karin's blabbering.

"And then he--" Karin went on.

Sai continued to flip through the pages of the book he was reading.

"—would you please put that book down while I'm talking to you!" Karin huffed indignantly.

"You know according to this book, you've got some serious stalker-like qualities; a little obsessive disorder and some paranoia. There's more I just haven't gotten to it yet." Sai pointed out nonchalantly, his dark eyes never leaving the material.

There was a small moment of silence as Kakashi coughed, trying to suppress a laugh at Karin's dumbfounded expression.

She began sputtering something that sounded like a quick defense as she threw up her hands, face beat red. "S-stalker?" She gave a round of shrill, quick laughs that had a creepy tone to them. "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Sai pointed to the book he was reading, "It says so here."

"Give me that!" She snatched the book from his hands and turned it over to look at the title: **A Look into Emotional and Psychological tendencies in Relationships**.

"Why the hell are you _reading_ this?" She finally asked, shoving the book back into his hands.

Sai tilted his head to the side and gave one of his infamous smiles. "I'm studying relationships. From what this book says—"

"Hahahahahaha!" Karin laughed eerily again, her smile forced and a bit too wide. "What would _ever_ make you think that I was a stalker?"

Sai merely smiled once more and pointed to her traveling pack. "I saw that you have one of his shirts."

"Ay!" Karin hurriedly pulled out the offending white garment and put it behind her back, face as red as her hair. "H-how do you know it's _his_ shirt, huh?"

"It has an Uchiha Clan symbol on the back." Kakashi commented from where he sat, waiting for his dogs to report.

Karin whirled around to face him. "W-w-well…" She opened her mouth a few times, before she stood a little straighter, sticking her chin into the air. "He _gave_ it to me to wear. We _share_ clothes all the time!"

Sai peered at her more closely, as if inspecting something. He stood and she froze, eyes narrowed as he came closer.

"Wh-what are you doing!?" She shrieked as he leaned in close, peering at her shirt. His eyes were level with her chest and she was blushing like mad while Kakashi merely chuckled in the background.

"You pervert!" She finally screamed, moving her hand to slap him. He merely disappeared, reappearing near the tree trunk he had been leaning against earlier. He cocked his head to the side, still studying her.

"What the hell are you staring at!?" She finally roared.

"I don't think the Uchiha would fit into your shirt. It's too small due to your minute bust size."

"WHAT!?"

* * *

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Tsunade pursed her lips as she continued to hit her pen against the edge of the desk. She always fiddled with her pen when she was nervous. Sitting in front of her was a scroll filled with random sentences and facts. Files were scattered across the desk in disarray. Half empty Styrofoam cups were scattered across the filing cabinets and floor.

She ran a hand through her hair and gave a frustrated groan. Why couldn't this have been easier? She'd already scoured the entire secret Uchiha file for any more information. So far it hadn't explained much. In fact, she'd come across so many dead ends she was sure that her next lead _had_ to be what she was looking for.

The door creaked open with a, "Hokage-sama, here is the prisoner, as ordered."

Tsunade didn't even look up at the two Anbu she knew had escorted the prisoner. She merely waved her hand in dismissal, eyes glued to the scroll in front of her. "Good. Stand outside until I call on you."

"Hai Hokage-sama."

The door clicked shut once again. Tsunade's brow twitched as silence reigned. "Please sit." She ordered the prisoner. She heard the sound of soft footsteps. So, he was being cooperative now, eh? That was good; it would be easier for her if he decided to play nice.

Then she heard two soft thunks and her desk vibrated. She clenched her teeth as she looked across the desk at the two sandaled feet now resting there comfortably.

"Get your feet off of my desk, Suigetsu." She glared, honey-colored eyes glinting dangerously.

Suigetsu merely grinned, keeping his feet where they were. "Why did you call me here, Hokage-sama?"

Tsunade merely grabbed a bottle of sake from her cabinet, pouring it into a cup before she downed it all in one swallow. She sighed in contentment before she noticed Suigetsu looking at the sake bottle like a starved man. He swallowed, licking his lips.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "Thirsty?"

Suigetsu merely nodded. "Yeah. I still haven't gotten any water."

"That's too bad." Tsunade's voice was sympathetic as she refilled her sake cup and finished the next cup off just as quickly as the first.

"Oh _come on_!" Suigetsu panted. "Don't be like that!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm dying of dehydration over here!"

Tsunade grinned. "Is that so? Very well, I'll get you something to drink…if you answer my questions regarding Sasuke and the rest of Team Hebi and the remainder of Sound."

"I don't hold loyalty to any of them." Suigetsu shrugged. "So go ahead and ask."

Tsunade nodded with a smile, pushing a cup of sake towards him. He grabbed it and downed it all just like Tsunade had done earlier. He let out a small sigh of relief—and Tsunade only then noticed that he had been sweating. Was this guy that much in need of hydration? She shook it off—she could ask him about it later. There were more important things at hand.

"Is Uchiha Sasuke familiar with anyone in your team?"

Suigetsu blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Is he having sexual relationships with any of you, perhaps?"

"What the hell!?" Suigetsu snarled. "I don't swing that way!"

"What about the redhead?" Tsunade asked again.

"He'd rather fuck a corpse than her." Suigetsu deadpanned.

Tsunade nodded. "Very well then. Was he having any kind of romantic relationship with anyone else in Sound? Or in one of the villages you passed through?"

"Not that I know of. This is Sasuke you're talking about." Suigetsu snorted. "Mr. I-have-a-stick-up-my-ass-Uchiha. He'll probably die a virgin."

Tsunade cursed, slamming her hand into the desk. Suigetsu jumped slightly at the action, recoiling from her general vicinity. He finally decided that perhaps having his feet up on her desk wasn't such a good idea after all…

Suigetsu eyed the woman warily, "Why the hell do you care so much about his relationship life?" Suigetsu asked curiously.

Tsunade stared him down without saying anything before rummaging through some papers so had on the Uchiha and kept them out of Suigetsu's visibility range.

"Oh kami!" Suigetsu jumped up from his seat, "Please don't tell me you and him, and you're jealous, and—"

Suigetsu was promptly shut up by an entire drawer of supplies from her desk flying at his head. He managed to dodge the initial projectile but all the contents inside thumped him in the head, neck, arms and chest.

"Are you fucking sick or something?" Tsunade screeched at him. The Anbu immediately came running in assuming that Tsunade was being attacked by the ruckus and screaming. However they were immediately greeted my obstacles being thrown and the sound of Tsunade yelling and the feeling that they came in at the wrong time.

"Anbu out! Suigetsu sit! Now!" She said flailing her arms as she came around her desk.

The masked men immediately back out in a flurry of fear for the angered women. Suigetsu backed up with his arms up, "Hey lady stop over reacting!" he pleaded.

"I am not over reacting!" Tsunade yelled back and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanking him back towards the chair, "Sit down!" She snarled shoving him into the chair with enough force to make the wooden floor crack and cave under the pressure. Suigetsu was sure he felt his spine pop out of place.

All was quiet as Tsunade worked her emotions back into place. Stress and alcohol were not great things to mix for the blond.

"Can I have another drink?" Suigetsu suddenly piped up, his panting becoming the only audible noise in the deadly quiet room.

* * *

Sakura leaned back against the cool cell wall with a small groan. She closed her eyes for a few moments, sighing. The cold stone was soothing to her injured back. She gritted her teeth as she shifted and the cuts reopened, a bit of blood wetting the back of her already blood-stained shirt.

Snores reverberated off of the cell walls and Sakura's eye twitched as her mouth formed a frown. Why did Naruto have to be so damn loud even when he was _asleep_? They'd decided that at least one of them should stay up while the others rested so they would always know what was going on. Besides, who could plot an escape plan without any sleep?

Sasuke had volunteered for the first watch—or rather he had made it specifically clear that he didn't trust the other two with his life. Sakura understood that he wasn't used to them being thrust back into his life again. He didn't know how to react around them without reverting back to the 'weak little boy' he once was.

Sakura sighed, lying down on the stone floor, finding it a bit more comfortable than sleeping sitting up. She listened to Naruto's snores and Sasuke's even, alert breathing for what seemed like ages. Her body felt heavy and lethargic, but her mind wouldn't let her sleep.

"Go to bed."

Sakura's eye twitched at Sasuke's orders.

"I'm not your servant, Uchiha. Don't tell me what to do." She snapped back without a second thought.

"Sakura…" His tone was reprimanding, ending in a frustrated sigh. Sakura winced and felt a small moment of guilt at the realization that Sasuke had been trying to be nice in his own way.

"Whatever." Sakura whispered. "It's not like I can sleep on this floor anyway."

"Hn."

Sakura sighed, pushing herself up into a sitting position once again. She crawled towards Sasuke in the darkness. Night had fallen an hour or so earlier and since there was no light in the prison block they had been trapped in the inky blackness for a while now. Naruto had already hit his head on the bars of his cell when he'd tripped forward.

She figured she was getting close to him because she could hear his breathing better. Besides that, it seemed to becoming in quicker pants. She cocked her head to the side as she listened, before her fingers brushed against the sleeve of his shirt. She tugged and she felt him jerk the fabric away.

"Sakura?" He called into the darkness.

"It was me, sorry." She whispered as she made to sit back and give him some space. Something tickled her arm and she pulled it back abruptly with a frightened cry. She rubbed her arm in a frantic attempt to get whatever had touched it away from her.

"Sakura?"

"Spider!" She managed to shriek before she flailed backwards as something touched her _other_ arm. She immediately tried to slap the offending creature away only to hear Sasuke grunt before she fell forward, landing on something warm.

"That was me."

The sound of his voice was muffled, and she felt the words vibrate from his chest before they erupted into the air. Her nose was currently stuck between the folds of cloth in his shirt and she inhaled his scent unconsciously. God, even under all the blood, mud, and grime he still smelled nice.

Her mind rolled over every possible scenario from here. Here was there, she was here. She'd pictured this moment, well not exactly all of this but there position. Of course her day dream had been in a field full of flowers, or in a house… not in a prison cell.

She shifted slightly, accidently putting pressure against his thigh. His hands came up to her sides and steadied her as he pulled her away from the hurt spot but threw her off balance enough that she leaned forward, both hands on each side of his head.

Even in the darkness with her heightened senses the absolute intensity of him being there was shocking. She could feel him shift, and his breath was hot against her lips. He was close to her, with in absolute reach.

He exhaled and her lips suddenly felt dry. She licked them unconsciously, swallowing. She couldn't see him in the dark but she could just imagine what he looked like right now. His cold eyes glinting dark obsidian…

She was probably violating every single one of the Uchiha's personal space rules at the moment. Sasuke hated to be close to anyone. And he _hated_ to have anyone touch him. He felt Sakura tilt her head down a little, and he could almost feel her nose brush against his jaw before she looked up again. He heard her swallow.

Alright, perhaps sharing personal space wasn't as bad as he'd anticipated.

Sakura didn't know what to do. She was frozen in uncertainty. Part of her was screaming to get away from him because this was so very wrong. But another part of her was daring her to inch forward and capture those firm lips she knew were merely centimeters from her own.

"…Sakura…?' Oh god did he sound breathless?

"H-hai?"

Sakura stared into the pitch black darkness, emerald eyes wide in surprise. Was he _leaning forward_!? She almost let out a Hinata-like squeak at the thought before her eyes became half-lidded and she tilted her face up a bit, biting her bottom lip as she leaned forward as well.

* * *

**(A\N: Muwahahahaha! Evil cliffhanger! :D Anyway...yes, D.A.Nico and I are alive. :D Sorry this chapter took so long...a nice little bit of SasuSaku to make it up to you. :)**

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka and D.A.Nico)**


	7. Chapter 6: Old Becomes New

**Chapter 6 **

**Old becomes New**

_D. A. Nico  
Lady Hanaka_

* * *

The door creaked open and Sakura jolted backwards, even as Sasuke's fingers seemed to skim the skin of her arms, as if to keep her in place. They heard Naruto's snore catch as he turned over in his sleep at the sound of the door sliding against the floor, but then he went silent.

A sliver of pale yellow light appeared in their line of vision, glinting off of the cell bars and making them squint to adjust their eyes to the new lighting. The figure standing in the doorway was shrouded in shadows, and as they made to close the door behind them they left only a small splash of yellow, making it impossible to see anything but a dark outline.

Sakura stilled as the footsteps came closer, echoing throughout the tiny block. She felt Sasuke stiffen beside her, hands unconsciously going for a weapon that was not there. _Wake up Naruto, please! Wake up!_ Because she was afraid it was Tobi, and in her mind she needed the support of both Sasuke and Naruto; mentally and physically.

Little did she know that Sasuke was having similar thoughts, _Get up Naruto. Damn dobe this isn't a time to sleep._ If they were coming for Sakura again then they were sorely mistaken. But things would be much easier if the kyuubi container were awake as well. He hated to admit it but in his current state he was weak and would not be able to protect their female teammate alone. He almost laughed at the absurdity of it all. He had been thrown back in with his teammates and they seemed to be resorting to their old days as team 7 unconsciously. Already he had designated himself and Naruto as Sakura's protectors.

The dark figure stopped in front of their cell and Sasuke clenched his fist. This was it…he'd merely have to yell and Naruto would awaken. They'd make sure no one touched Sakura. Perhaps he could tackle the Akatsuki member to the ground while Naruto—

He was stopped as Sakura let out a ragged cry and rushed forward on her hands and knees, stumbling, "S-Souta!"

Sasuke frowned. Wasn't that the name of the medic-nin friend she had traveled with?

Sakura stared up at the gently smiling man across the bars from her. It couldn't be…but it was! Souta! He was alive! He could get them out. He must have somehow survived Sasori's attack and had tracked them to this place. Hope welled up inside of her as she reached forward to grab the sleeve of his jacket.

"Souta, oh god it's you!"

Her fingers clung to his sleeve, but the tips brushed against his skin, expecting to feel the same warm, soft skin as usual. But they met a rough, grainy surface that was nothing like skin at all—and Sakura paled.

"N-no…" Recognition dawned as she shook her head furiously, feeling her chest begin to throb in pain as tears filled her eyes. "NO!" Her cry awoke Naruto, who scrambled around in his cell.

"Wh-what's going on?"

"No! No it's not possible! NOOO!" Sakura was screaming, drawing away from Souta as if burnt. She scrambled backwards until her back was against the wall as she continued to cry. "Why? WHY!?"

"S-Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice was panicked as he looked from the shadowed figure in front of Sasuke's cell to the two people residing in it, mainly Sakura.

"Nonononononononoooooooo!" Sakura moaned, still shaking her head. "Please oh god no..."

"Sakura." Sasuke's voice was soft and calm, an anchor in all the chaos swirling inside of her. "What is wrong? What is going on?"

Naruto had taken to the mindset that the cloaked figure was responsible for Sakura's hysterics and so had begun yelling at him, demanding to know what he'd done. "Hey you! Dammit what did you do to her!?"

Silence, save for Sakura's cries.

"Answer me you bastard!"

"He can't, Naruto-kun…" Came a soft, calm voice from the doorway.

Sakura's body was shaking as the tears ran down her cheeks and she continued jerking her head from side to side. "Please no…oh god why…_why_?"

Sasori merely chuckled as he leaned against the bars, one hand on Souta. "He was in the way, Sakura-chan…besides; I thought you would like him. I didn't want you to be lonely when I finally turned you into a puppet."

"Get away from her you bastard!" Naruto screamed, radiating fury as he recognized the Akatsuki member. He and that Deidara guy had killed Gaara.

"You'll make a perfect pair," Sasori crooned. "Two lovers."

Naruto choked on his next curse in astonishment while Sasuke stared up at the redheaded Akatsuki member in shock.

…lovers?

Sakura merely sobbed once more, reaching out a hand towards the puppet. "Souta-kun…" It was a pained whimper before her hand fell limp and she seemed to cave in on herself.

"That's no way to act to your master, Sakura-chan." Sasori purred. "You should be more grateful for what I've done—" He was stopped from continuing as the prison door slammed open once more. The only color they could see through the darkness was a pair of crimson eyes.

"Sasori."

The puppet master didn't turn immediately. He petted the puppet on the head and let his eyes wander back towards Sakura, "Such a waste, built in flesh not wood. One day my collection will be forever better; with her apart of it." He smiled, crazed.

"Sasori."

"I hear you Itachi. I'm merely attending to Sakura-san's needs; she needed to know what happened to him. After all… he tried so hard to save her." He said in an amazingly calm voice.

Sakura moaned in an attempt to keep her mind from drifting back to that day. Her hands balled into fists as she gently hit the ground. She had to control herself.

A second later the masked Akatsuki member came bounding into the room, and it completely unraveled Sakura. The absolute presence of Tobi was enough to make her shrink into the wall and attempt to get closer to Sasuke without crawling to him like a scared puppy.

The mask never turn in her direction, and his disposition was all jolly and energetic.

"Puppet-san!"

Sasori's eyes twitched in annoyance as he turned slowly in a threatening manner.

"Tobi suggests not making Prisoner-san cry. We need to leave Prisoner-san alone, because Leader-sama still has use of her. And we don't want to make Leader-sama mad!" He said shaking his hands and head in desperate plea for him to stop teasing the girl.

"We don't need her going crazy either," Itachi growled.

Sasori sighed, "Very well, another time then." He said and started to turn. "Nevertheless, that gives me enough time to figure out the tricks I will have for her. Oh the power!" He said in a dreamy voice before making the puppet follow him loyally.

Itachi glanced over to Naruto as if checking to make sure all was okay; then towards his brother and Sakura. And without another word he headed up the stairs, Tobi not far behind.

Tobi stopped on the stairway to grab the door but slowly turned his head, black hole gazing directly into Sakura's wide jade eyes.

To Sakura, it was like staring into oblivion, it was like staring into her death, her torture, her suicide.

Tobi closed the door and once more the three shinobi were engulfed in darkness.

* * *

The moment the three Akatsuki members were alone in the hallway Itachi turned a threatening glare towards Sasori. "Leader-sama said not to interact with them. You are not their jailor and this is none of your concern."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Itachi-san?" Sasori asked with a small smile. "Are you mad that in the end I will get my cherry blossom and you will get nothing?"

"Hn." Itachi's voice was filled with scorn, though still seemingly emotionless. "I will gain the Kazagaruma. I do not need her." He did not notice the way Tobi cocked his head to the side at Itachi's words, and they could not see the malicious smirk that spread across his face.

Sasori frowned. "Leader-sama's plan is taking far longer than I expected."

"You are too impatient."

Sasori merely shrugged. They all knew that Sasori hated to be kept waiting. "If you will excuse me, I must be going."

"Goodbye Puppet-san!" Tobi called after him with a small wave. He turned to see Itachi watching him intently, a flicker of suspicion in his usually emotionless gaze. But he merely skipped down the hallway telling Itachi that he was going to go talk with Deidara-senpai.

Itachi watched his retreating back until it disappeared from view as Tobi turned a corner. He shot a glance back at the large door of the prison, lips thinning in irritation. Then he merely 'hn'd and began walking towards Leader-sama's room. He would need to tell him that Sasori's obsession with the pink-haired medic was becoming a hindrance.

* * *

"We found it, Kakashi."

Kakashi blinked as Pakkun and two of the other hounds appeared before him, tongues lolling out of their mouths. They were breathing harshly, as if they'd run a great distance.

"You found the base?" Karin asked excitedly, crouching down to look at the dogs. Pakkun's nose twitched a bit and he cocked his head to the side. "Hey! You use the same shampoo as me."

Karin face faulted.

"Can they direct us to the base then, Kakashi-san?" Sai asked, stepping over Karin—who was twitching and mumbling something about dogs and hair products—before looking up at Kakashi with a fake smile.

Kakashi nodded. "Alright Pakkun, take us to the base." The small pug nodded before he and the other two dogs took off through the trees with Kakashi, Sai, and a grumbling Karin behind them.

It took at least two hours before they reached their destination. As they reached the tree line the dogs collapsed on the grass, panting. Karin slumped to the ground with her own whine, while Sai and Kakashi stood, surveying the small concrete complex that led to Orochimaru's underground base.

Kakashi released his jutsu on Pakkun and the others and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. He tucked his scroll back into his vest before turning to Karin. "Is this the correct base?"

She nodded. "Hai. It's abandoned, so we won't have any trouble getting inside."

"What about traps?" Sai piped in, making Kakashi stop immediately.

Karin waved her hand dismissively, "All the traps were disarmed upon removal of everything. No one was meant to come back." She replied nonchalantly and stepped forward with the two boys not far behind.

Sai stepped forward quickly, excitement boiling behind his bored demeanor. In fact he got right up next to Karin and accidentally stepped on her heels.

"Ouch big foot!" She yelled and shoved him forward in attempt to get him away from her.

Sai pitched forward and stumbled a couple feet before righting himself. The unmistakable 'click' sound was caught a second to later.

From every direction they came flying. Senbon needles flew from the ground, the sky, the surrounds in every direction and the building. The area was covered in them and the three ninja as well.

Kakashi immediately spun away from the needles and started yanking them from his arms, knees and every other inch of his body. Sai leaped forward to yank the door open but found it wouldn't budge and was covered by the weapons.

Karin shrieked wildly and ducked down covering her head with her hands, "Make them stop!" She yelled and yelped when they covered her body. The amount of pinpricks made her imagine her body covered with minute ants biting and pinching her.

Then without warning Sai stumbled and fell to the ground, eyes closed and completely motionless.

"Sai!" Kakashi yelled as he yanked another out. However he was beginning to feel woozy and dizzy. The edges of his vision began to darken. In the corner of his eyes he could see Karin's already crouched form drop further to the ground, until she was curled motionlessly.

"Damn," Kakashi grumbled as his knees became week and his mind began to shut down. He fell forward, his one good eye attempting to stay open.

Four figures swam into his view; three of them completely unknown to him. The fourth moved closer and closer to his face and laughed rather cruelly.

"Ah, so we meet again." The figure murmured sinfully.

"Ka—buto," Kakashi murmured before losing himself to the sedated senbon needles.

* * *

It was deathly quiet in the Akatsuki prison, save for Sakura's ragged breaths. Her despair seemed to have exhausted her of any strength she'd had left since their capture. She was currently asleep curled up in a small ball holding herself, knuckles white from the pressure.

Naruto and Sasuke had just stared at her as she cried, feeling helpless. Sasuke reached out a hand to touch her tangled hair but stopped himself with an almost unnoticeable frown before turning back to Naruto, who was staring at Sakura's limp form with wide eyes.

"Sasuke…" His voice was a croaked whisper. "What…what just happened?"

"Sasori seemed to have turned Sakura's friend," _Lover_, his mind cackled tauntingly, "into a puppet."

"Bastard." Naruto hissed, eyes flickering red.

Sasuke nodded mutely, shifting in his spot against the wall. His chains clanked at the movement, the rusted iron digging into his wrists. He did not grimace, however, merely turned to look at Sakura's shaking form once more.

"Teme, you don't think…you don't think that the puppet bastard was telling the truth do you?"

"About what?" Sasuke's voice had a hint of irritation laced in with its usual monotone.

"About Sakura and that Souta guy being…lovers, ya know?"

Sasuke snorted, closing his eyes for a second. They were dry and strained from peering into the darkness and he was tired, both physically and mentally.

"I don't know."

"It must be hard," Naruto continued in a whisper, "To have someone you love die like that."

"An Akatsuki member killed _my_ family as well, Naruto." Sasuke snapped eyes boring into Naruto's shadowed figure. His tone was bitter. "She cannot afford to show weakness now. We need to find a way out."

"So that's it, huh? You're just going to tell her to suck it up like a good little shinobi?" Naruto's tone was coated in utter disbelief and a little scorn. "You're such an ass, Sasuke."

"We don't have time to be _nice_, Naruto." Sasuke shot back, eyes narrowed to mere slits. "Surely the Akatsuki will enact their plan soon. If we can't think of something then we're all dead."

Naruto was silent for what seemed like ages, face scrunched up in worry.

They could hear the soft dripping of water from somewhere in the back of the cell block.

"Go to sleep teme. I'll stay up and watch." Naruto finally grunted.

"Hn."

Naruto didn't wait to see if Sasuke obeyed. He merely looked back at Sakura's petite form, still shaking as she gave a small, almost inaudible whimper. His heart ached at the sound and he swallowed the large lump in his throat.

_Don't worry Sakura-chan…we'll get 'em back for what they did. I promise._

**(A\N: So...who else is surprised? Aren't you guys proud of us? XD I think poor Sasuke-kun is jealous...:D and now Kabuto has appeared...but what COULD he be doing at the base? You will find out in good time my friends...:D Well, we hope you enjoyed it.**

**Sincerely, Lady Hanaka and D.A.Nico)**


	8. Chapter 7: Plans

**(A\N: Sorry for the wait you guys but...enjoy the chapter! :D)**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Plans**

_D. A. Nico_

_Lady Hanaka_

* * *

Konan gently put two fingers to her forehead and rubbed gently at the throbbing skin. The three boys in front of her had been at it for about two hours now. They were all determined, and in this supreme game of domination… no one was going to give up on their staring contest and admit defeat.

Sasori, Kisame and Deidara were all sitting in a hunched over manner as they stared directly towards one another. Sasori with his impeccable nonchalant manner sat stoic and unbending to the potential but pathetic will of his opponents. Deidara sat, arms crossed with a slight scowl on his face; he apparently lacked the knowledge that this would have taken so long. Then there was Kisame who was probably asleep now with his eyes open by the way he stared off in the general direction of his competitors but with no real direct eye contact.

The apparent rules of this game were no laughing, and no making your opponent bleed. To lose you had to look completely away from your opponents or fall asleep. Konan couldn't help thinking they might want to start making some new rules. The Akatsuki hardly ever made each other laugh without morally attempting to injure someone. She was sure it was taking great will power to keep from harming another, and then if Kisame was asleep there was no true way of proving it considering his fish face never really transformed into anything further then that shit eating grin he always wore.

Konan sighed and decided that she couldn't take this much longer. It was time to make someone lose at this game. Her eyes played towards Sasori as he was the only one that had any sort of view towards her; her hands on the other hand gently began moving and twisting in the motions of a jutsu.

The door on the opposite side of the room opened with a rather sneaky, unwanted slowness that would have seemed suspicious in this house hold considering everyone busted through it like they owned everything.

The first the notice the unwanted intruder was Deidara and in an alarming manner his head swung around quickly, "Hey!" he exclaimed suddenly as his finger quickly pointed towards a yellow haired boy who had frozen in the door way.

Kisame lurched forward confirming Konan's suspicion that he had been asleep. "Kyuubi!" he screamed and reached quickly for his massive weapon. Then without a thought he swung the weapon around in a boomerang manner and watched it swirl and fly towards Naruto. Samehada cut cleanly through both of Naruto's knee caps and then lodged itself into the wall so deep Konan was sure it was peaking out on the other side of the wall.

Naruto instantly crumbled to the ground and instantly separated into thousands of little origami papers. Everyone froze, and then Deidara swung around, "Konan, what the hell was that, un?" he yelled demanding an answer.

"Yeah you ruined our match!" Kisame complained.

"You've been at that damn game for two hours." Konan said easily examining one of her nails.

Sasori sighed and glanced back towards the giant weapon that had shoved its way into the wall, "Do you realize if that had truly been the prisoner you would have killed him?" Sasori asked.

Kisame was quiet, "No he wouldn't we could have had that pink haired prisoner heal him right up."

Konan heard Sasori sigh.

"You've drained all her chakra, how would you expect her to keep him alive?"

Kisame just rolled his shoulder in an unknowing shrug.

"Exactly!" Deidara piped in suddenly.

The bickering started up almost instantly and Konan let out a loud sigh in hopes that it would get them to shut up; but of course she didn't get a reaction.

Itachi walked into the room, followed by a bouncing Tobi. His eyes strayed only for a second to the sword and then wordlessly he leaned up against the windowsill. Tobi on the other hand examined all the paper on the ground and sword itself, "What happened? Did fish-man upset Konan-san?" he asked suddenly.

"No just training," Konan smirked as she leaned further back in the chair. She as well as everyone else could sense Pein coming. Itachi and Tobi hadn't just come in to socialize with everyone else; they were finally going to have another meeting on what they were going to do with the three prisoners.

Pein walked in and easily stepped over the handle of Samehada without paying any heed to it. His eyes trailed to everyone in the room. "How are the prisoners doing?"

"Shitty if you ask me," Kisame said leaning backwards and crossing his arms with a giant smirk on his face.

"The girl is a little shaken from the presentation of my new puppet," Sasori easily commented. No use trying to hide the facts from Pein. He'd figure it out sooner or later.

Pein stared him down in an awkward manner but kept his mouth closed on the subject.

"Let's rephrase the question. How is Naruto doing?" Pein asked.

"Angry but fine," Konan remarked, "Very angry."

"Good, it means the fox is alive and well in his veins. For the next couple days I want you lighting the fire more and more. Make the kyuubi want to come out. The closer to rage he is the easier it will be extract it. This will be the hardest yet; we will all be exhausted for days after." Pein remarked simply.

"Master-sama!" Tobi suddenly raised his hand and wagged it around in the air for a bit.

Pein easily glanced over without saying anything.

"How do you want us to piss him off for the final extraction?" Tobi asked.

Pein smirked, "Cripple the girl, by then her use for us will be expired and she will just be on extra mouth to feed."

At those words Pein turn and walked back out of the room.

Konan easily got up to follow without staring at any of the members in the room.

Tobi gasped slightly, "That's going to hurt."

All Kisame could do was smirk as he saw Sasori's face darken with the prospect of having a crippled puppet.

* * *

Karin gave a small moan as her eyes flickered open drowsily. She was lying on her back and staring up at a painfully clean white ceiling with a long, dull yellow light hanging from it. _Kind of like in the old research facility at Orochimaru's old base…_she thought dully, her brain still trying to wake up.

She was sore all over, small pinpricks of pain shooting through her body. Where had the pain come from? And then she let out a choked scream as she remembered what had happened. They'd sprung a booby trap and been taken down before she had known what was happening. A part of her realized rather ashamedly that it was her fault.

Her vision was blurry as she blinked a few more times, trying to sit up. Her body was sluggish, her muscles tired and heavy. It was like moving through wet sand.

"You're awake."

Karin's brow furrowed as she turned to her right. What she saw was a black blob with black hair. What the hell? What was wrong with her sight?

"Your glasses."

That voice was different—calmer in a sense, and a little less cheerful. And that was when she realized that the voice was correct—her glasses were missing.

"They were broken when we came in." The first voice cut in—the black blob. She guessed it was Sai, who moved towards her slowly, as if in great pain. Something was placed into her hands and she looked down at the broken remains of her glasses. Surprisingly enough, the lenses weren't broken—at least not irreparably—only the bridge and the plastic part that went behind her ears was snapped.

She grabbed the frames, pushing it up her nose and holding it there. Her vision clearing a bit—there was one lone crack down the right lens—she looked to her two companions. Both of them seemed to be in the same predicament as her. They looked tired and pale, and there were small pinpricks on their body that showed where the needles had hit them.

"What happened? Where are we?" Karin asked impatiently, feeling panicked. They had been captured! Who had taken them? Dammit she should have sensed someone's chakra before they had been ambushed—_had _they been ambushed? Maybe they had merely been found after all three of them had collapsed.

"We thought that maybe you had planned it, since you're Kabuto's old partner after all, but seeing that you're here with us, I suppose that isn't true." Sai commented offhandedly.

"Kabuto?" Karin whispered weakly, not understanding what Sai was talking about.

"Kabuto has captured us." Kakashi answered, his voice calm and serious.

"WHAT!?" Karin shrieked, lunging forward and grabbing Kakashi's shoulders. The older man winced as her fingernails bit into his sensitive, cut skin, but he did not push her away. He couldn't afford to waste the energy, and his arms felt like they were currently made of lead.

"I thought that Kakashi-san explained it quite well." Sai smiled his fake smile. "Kabuto has captured us. He was the one, I suspect, that replaced the traps on the base. He was probably waiting for us to try and enter it."

Karin let go of Kakashi, seeing him glaring at her softly. She leaned back against the wall of their cell with a small huff and then a sniffle. Things were going from bad to worse! First her Sasuke-kun had been taken and then she'd been stuck with Suigetsu for _days_ on end. Then they'd practically been arrested by Konoha and she had been stuck with two emotionless bastards—who weren't hot and sexy when they were emotionless like her Sasuke-kun—and she had found out that her Sasuke-kun could be with an apparently _extremely_ beautiful ex-teammate and now _THIS_?

Fate hated her, it seemed.

"Why would he capture us though?" Karin asked stupidly, after a moment of silence.

Kakashi shrugged. "You know him better than we do."

Karin gave a small inaudible grumble before nodding. "Yes but…listen, Kabuto was clinically _insane_ the last time I saw him. And he was never someone who could do anything without help. He's a pushover." She laughed at that. "Kabuto couldn't do anything without Orochimaru there to hold his hand and lead him through the steps."

"I'm wounded that you think so little of me, Karin." Came a soft voice from the doorway.

* * *

Sakura gave a small, rattling breath as her eyes slowly opened. Her body felt weak and tired, but she knew that she couldn't afford to remain like she was. Despair in a place like this meant death. And she would be _damned_ before she died in this shithole.

She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position, trying to hold in a few remaining sobs at the thought of Souta's cold, lifeless body. It was now Sasori's tool…a weapon that he would use against others. Against her friends? What if he took her body as well? Would be enjoy killing her friends and family with her corpse? It sent shivers down her spine and she merely gritted her teeth.

_Like hell that insane bastard is going to turn me into a puppet. I'm going to turn him into kindling._ The thought of a burning bonfire made out of Sasori's wooden body gave her a strange sense of comfort, and she let out a dry laugh.

"Sakura-chan? Are you awake?" Naruto's voice was soft and hesitant, but relieved.

"Yeah." She managed to rasp out, her voice husky and rough, her throat dry.

She looked over to her right to see Sasuke leaning against the other side of the cell, eyes closed. She knew he wasn't sleeping, however. Sasuke was a light sleeper, and the way his body subtly tensed when she shifted into a more comfortable position told her he was wide awake.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto began again, and he seemed hopelessly lost.

"It's ok, Naruto. I don't want to talk about it." Sakura whispered. "We need to focus on—"

"Was he your lover?"

Sakura blinked at Sasuke's abrupt question. There was a long moment of silence as she stared into the darkness, not wanting to meet his eyes. For some reason if she looked at him she felt guilty, as if she had betrayed him some way.

Righteous anger bubbled up inside of her. She shouldn't feel guilty at all! She held no obligation to him. It wasn't as if she had to wait her whole life till he came back to Konoha for her. Besides, she didn't even think he _would_ ever come back to Konoha, even if he had killed Itachi.

"You didn't expect me to wait for you forever, did you?" Was her only reply, as she brought her legs up to her chest, placing her chin on her knees.

She saw Sasuke tense and it confused her—because on any other person she would think his facial expression and movements portrayed jealousy—but this was Sasuke, and so she didn't know what to think.

So she merely tried to think of anything that could help them get out of this place. "How thick do you think the walls are?" She finally asked.

"A good four or five feet of stone." Naruto spoke. "And then a layer of steel, and then some more stone."

"They really don't want us to leave, do they?" Sakura asked wryly.

"How do you know that?" Sasuke directed his question at Naruto.

Naruto shrugged. "I knocked on the wall and I…I guess I listened for it. The Kyuubi's good with those kinds of things. He has sharp hearing."

"So the Kyuubi's senses still work for you Naruto?" Sakura asked, leaning forward expectantly. This was good. They could use this to their advantage.

"Yeah. I can't access his chakra but I can use his sight, hearing, and smell."

"When were you able to control the fox's senses?" Sasuke bit out.

"If you'd been in Konoha, you would have been there to see it." Sakura called back airily. "Naruto has come far with containing and manipulating the Kyuubi's power."

"Hn."

"Naruto, can you tell us anything else about the building?"

"It smells like rain outside."

Sakura nodded. "We're probably in Rain. Tsunade-shishou said that Jiraiya-san told her the Akatsuki's main base was in Rain. It's also where their Leader is from."

"How does that help us?"

"It's said that Pein can control the Rain. He can sense our chakra through it, so even if we were to escape the base we'd never make it out of Rain alive. He'd find us in seconds." Sakura concluded.

"So we have to escape when it's not raining?"

"Konan's jutsu is paper-based." Sasuke added. "For her to use her jutsu to its full potential, he will have to stop the rain."

"When she scouts out, he stops it." Naruto grinned, his eyes shining. "So we can escape then! HA!" He pumped his fist in the air.

"There's still the little problem of escaping in the first place." Sasuke drawled, making Naruto pout.

"Well, we can't use my strength to bust down the walls. Pein would hear it and start his rain up, so that wouldn't work. And plus we'd have all the Akatsuki members after us." Sakura muttered.

"You don't even have enough chakra to break the wall open anyway." Sasuke spoke blandly.

Sakura said nothing, merely smiled softly.

"Sakura-chan? How can you have chakra when that Kisame guy keeps coming in here and draining us with his sword?"

Sakura merely grinned, "Don't worry Naruto. When we need to, I'll have plenty of chakra to help. But we need to figure out how we're going to _use_ that chakra and how we're going to get out without anyone noticing."

"They have us guarded at all times."

"At the door?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, down the hallway…there's another door, they have someone stationed outside of that one. Right now it's that Deidara guy."

Sakura nodded. "Alright...well I've been out in the hallway and there are no windows or any means of escape that way. We'd have to go through that other door."

"What if there's a chakra seal on it?" Sasuke asked.

There was a moment of silence as all three stared down at the floor, deep in thought.

"I guess we'll just have to find out." Naruto cut in.

"How…?" Sakura asked, and Sasuke's eyes flickered with the same question.

Naruto grinned. "We'll have to think of something to make them take one of us out for a while!"

"Alright, so that's out next plan of action…" Sakura let out a deep breath. "We don't know how much time we have till they try and take out the Kyuubi. Because of that we have to work fast. We need a way to get them to take one of us away. They won't risk letting Naruto out of his cell, and I doubt they'll let you out, Sasuke. That means I'm the only logical choice." Sakura swallowed, remembering the last time she'd been taken out of the cell by Tobi.

"Alright, time to start planning."

* * *

**(A\N: I hope you guys liked it. :D I can't promise when the next chapter will be out...but hopefully since it's summer we can work on it some more. But anyway...the plot is thickening! Muwahahahaha!! -coughs- ok well...um...till next time, see ya!**

**Sincerely Lady Hanaka and D.A.Nico)**


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